Our Team
Management Team
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Paul Bainbridge
About PaulPaul Bainbridge
Paul is the Accountant for National Food Institute. Paul has several decades of accounting experience within various industries from Family Businesses to Multi National organisations, working within all facets of the accounting process, including in excess of 5 years experience within the education sector.
Paul has a Bachelor of Business in Accounting, is CPA qualified and would like to use his experience and knowledge to maintain and develop quality financial information and compliance for Management within National Food Institute.
Contact Details: paul.bainbridge@nationalfoodinstitute.com.au
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Ross Freeman
About RossRoss Freeman
Ross Freeman has been involved in the dairy / food industry for over 35 years.
Ross started as a production supervisor at Pete-Con, manufacturing manager at Sandhurst Dairies, general manager of Burra Foods, then co owner of Riverina Cheese RCG.
For over 15 years Ross was a major Shareholder and CEO of The Riverina Cheese Group P/L (RCG). Ross began the RCG in Sept 1994 employing 5 staff and growing the business to be one of the largest continental specialty cheese factories in Australia.
Ross’s philosophy of continuous improvement and extensive experiences in business have been utilised at the National Food Institute, allowing him to influence 35 of his staff to complete Certificates 2 and 3 in food processing.
Ross more recently worked as a consultant and trainer to the Food Industry until recently Ross took over the role of CEO and Director of National Food Institute and NFI Consulting P/L.
Contact Details: rossf@nationalfoodinstitute.com.au
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David Haberfield
About DavidDavid Haberfield
David Haberfield has over 30 years of experience in the food industry working in all areas of production, quality control, logistics, plant design and layout and continuous improvement projects.
As a qualified food safety and business auditor, David also has experience in complete plant due diligence audits. David also international court experience as an expert witness. He has been involved in the design and operation of factories, the implementation and commissioning of production systems and has extensive experience in problem solving and implementing improvements. David has also worked on a number of cleaner production and sustainability projects. He has completed over 30 HACCP projects from development through to implementation and training in Australia, Asia and the Pacific Islands.
David has more than 20 years of experience in developing and delivering training programs, initially in-house and subsequently to HACCP clients, Melbourne University students and currently National Food Institute clients. He has a passion for continuous improvement, visual systems and sailing.
Contact Details: david.haberfield@nationalfoodinstitute.com.au
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Ian Haberfield
About IanIan Haberfield
Highly motivated food consultant, who is committed to provide immediate value to clients to meet their objectives, with over 30 years experience including 12 years in Asia, with full regional responsibility for a multinational European Dairy and Beverage Manufacturer. Having operated successfully at Director level while being heavily involved with day to day operations of business units including, Manufacturing, Finance, Accounting Engineering, Logistics, HR, Sales & Marketing, Cross-culturally sensitive, with thorough experience in the management of international joint ventures, particularly in Asia. Proven skills in Plant Design, Construction, Rationalisation and Upgrading. Solid track record of adding corporate value through Product Development and New Business Start-ups. Experienced in Strategic Planning, Project Management and Management Reporting Systems. Strong leader with track record in developing teams & individuals at all levels of the business through tailored programs leveraging off individuals strengths to build learning organisations.
Specialties: Aseptic System, Dairy, Beverage, Continuous improvement, Change Management, Capital development and Systems Development (people & process).
Ian is currently a consultant to National Food Institute and consults to other Food Industry and manufacturing business’s.
Contact Details: ian.haberfield@nationalfoodinstitute.com.au
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David Pinnock
About DavidDavid Pinnock
David Pinnock has been involved in complex manufacturing environments for the past 18 years, working his way up from the shop floor to plant manager. He has experience in the automotive, chemical, fiberglass, paint and food industries, dealing with companies such as GM, Holden, Hella, Regency, Stegbar, Jeldwen, Heinz, Aristocrat and a range of overseas clients. This extensive experience has given him the ability to promote cultural change in many different manufacturing environments.
For the past 8 years, David has been a valuable member of the National Food Institute, programs in the Goulburn Valley and Northern Victoria. His belief in obtaining the best from every employee has helped to deliver amazing results, both for the individual and for the company.
David is a proud father of two amazing girls, an avid sports follower and true believer in the value a coach and mentor can make.
Contact Details: david.pinnock@nationalfoodinstitute.com.au
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Janine Peeters
About JanineJanine Peeters
Janine is the Quality and compliance Manager for National Food Institute. Janine has over 10 years experience working in the VET sector working as a Trainer & Assessor, Administration & Reporting Manager before moving into Quality and Compliance.
Having worked in the Retail Sector for 25 years – Janine has highly developed interpersonal skills. Working for an internationally franchised organisation – process and procedures are part of her way of thinking and work ethic.
A mum of 2 teenagers, Janine is kept busy with sports, travel, gardening as well as maintaining Compliance and Auditing For National Food Institute.
Contact Details: janine.peeters@nationalfoodinstitute.com.au
Our Team
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Sue Haberfield
About SueSue Haberfield
Sue is a dedicated, results-oriented Project Manager, with over 25 years’ experience in various industries.
As the Information Management support for National Food Institute, Sue brings a strong ability to identify deficiencies in systems and processes, identify improvements required, document and implement change to the business and mentor staff to achieve optimum results.
Sue has a passion for continuous improvement using innovation and a collaborative approach.
Sue is also an active volunteer member of the NSW State Emergency Service (SES) where she is a qualified Trainer and Assessor.
Contact Details: sue.haberfield@nationalfoodinstitute.com.au
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Andrew Mulkearns
About AndrewAndrew Mulkearns
Andrew has extensive experience working within multiple people focused industries. He has a passion for working with individuals to assist them in developing skills and knowledge to create meaningful employment and personal outcomes. Andrews background in high pressure roles within the Royal Melbourne Hospital, Department of Justice and the Warehousing and Sales industries have helped him develop a specialised skill set to bring with him into the training environment. He has worked with and been personally mentored from a number of leading experts in the field of human performance and practical psychology.
Able to work with and train business owners, senior management, frontline managers to experienced and entry level staff, Andrew is able to cater his dynamic training to a wide audience. He is particularly passionate about working with students who are disengaged and have learning barriers to help empower them to achieve beyond what they believe is possible.
Contact Details: andrew.mulkearns@nationalfoodinstitute.com.au
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Sara Xue
About SaraSara Xue
Sara has been an accomplished compliance officer/Data and Quality officer with more than 6 years working experience in two ASX listed companies and private RTO’s.
She is the responsible, hardworking, dedicated individual who thinks logically, works well with senior manager as well as a valued team member.
Sara has vast majority skills in education sector, such as Producing and formatting training documents from Student Management System (SMS-VETtrak) or mail merge system, auditing and finalizing student files, managing AVETMISS report from SMS – VETtrak, managing monthly upload of data to State Funding Body for claiming, generating report from SVTS, managing Victorian Student Number(VSN) monthly upload, familiar with different SMS such as VETtrak, SVTS, Wise.Net, FinPa, My Time Learning, and aXcelerate, and familiar with qualifications such as Early Childhood Education and Care, Ageing Support, Disability, Individual Support and Civil Construction.
Sara Xue is also a talented musician and performer. Sara has been working for real-estate agent as piano performer for more than 8 years. She achieves excellently the theory of music and history of western music. At the same time, she had got the highest grade of playing piano in China that made her also gained the wonderful skill of playing piano.
Contact Details: sara.xue@nationalfoodinstitute.com.au
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Ian Wilson
About IanIan Wilson
Ian has been involved in the wine industry since 2000, initially recruited as Packaging Manager to set up the Ozpak Bottling Plant in Nagambie – a greenfields site with a 6000 bottle per hour capacity. He then moved on to the role of Customer Service Manager delivering packaging services to small icon brands, such as Bowen Estate Wines, in addition to large commercial operators, such as Fosters Wine Group. He subsequently transferred to the parent company, McPherson Wines, as Customer Service Manager delivering “Buyers Own Brand” products to large commercial companies such as New Holland Wine Company (Aldi EU) and Coles Liquor Group.
Ian set up his company WineWerks in 2008, providing specialist packaging services and logistics to the wine industry and, in particular, Coles Liquor and Supermarket Groups.
Ian joined National Food Institute in December 2010 as a Trainer and Assessor and is continuing to train at various food processing plants in the Goulburn Valley and Bendigo areas.
Ian joined Wodonga TAFE in June 2016 as a Casual Trainer and Assessor and is training locally as required.
Ian enjoys golf, gardening, music and playing around with all things mechanical.
Contact Details: ian.wilson@nationalfoodinstitute.com.au
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David Dunbar
About DavidDavid Dunbar
David Dunbar has over 38 years of practical industry experience within various food processing roles.
Including Meat Processing, Quality Assurance, Meat Inspection, Food Safety, Warehouse Operations and Knife Sharpening and Handling.
After working in fast paced and difficult industries David has experienced the value of advanced training and the significant impacts that it can have on a person’s quality of life, quality of product and value in production through efficiency, attitude, and professionalism.
David has held several senior management roles and is well versed in the duties and responsibilities involved when conducting a business undertaking including worker safety, continuous improvement strategies, quality management, product development and sales, customer service, disputes resolution, communication, and staff training
David is a now a passionate trainer / assessor working at the National Food Institute and is prepared to go the extra mile to ensure students feel welcomed, respected, engaged, and receive quality training that is relevant, beneficial, and practical to their work environment.
David understands the challenges of students from diverse backgrounds and challenging work environments and relates and communicates well with individuals from all backgrounds.
Contact Details: david.dunbar@nationalfoodinstitute.com.au
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Melissa Lechte
About MelissaMelissa Lechte
Melissa Lechte has been involved in SBAT Programs for almost 10 years. She began her career as a Workplace Supervisor for multiple not-for-profit organisations before becoming a Workplace Trainer/Assessor in 2016 for National Food Institute, specialising in Supply Chain Operations.
At the beginning of 2021, Melissa was promoted to an SBAT Program Manager to assist National Food Institute with the delivery of SBAT Programs across Melbourne, VIC. She has plenty of experience working with a diverse range of clients/students, supporting students through their SBAT Program, being a mentor/tutor in the workplace and working beside the NFI team.
Mel would like to use her experience and knowledge to maintain and develop internal/external client relationships, provide amazing opportunities for school-based students across Melbourne and to continuously strive for improvement within all of her programs, as well as improving her own skills/knowledge on a daily basis.
Contact Details: melissa.lechte@nationalfoodinstitute.com.au
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Murray Wilkinson
About MurrayMurray Wilkinson
Murray Wilkinson has over 40 years of diverse experience at executive, senior leadership and senior manager roles in horticultural processing, grain, milling, stock feed, dairy processing, steel fabrication and cotton ginning industries. The key to his achievements has been Murray’s ability to build relationships with staff and customers at all levels of organisations, recognise and develop products and processes to meet customer and product needs in a broad range of food processing and post farm gate agricultural related industries.
Murray’s strengths lie in having transferrable skills in leading people, safety, quality, production, operations, financial management, industrial relations, supply chain, logistics, continuous improvement and change management. Murray has proven success in developing and supporting staff; encouraging them to take their own career steps.
Along with Training and Assessing Murray’s formal qualifications include Food Control, Cheesemaking, Flour Milling and he holds a Masters Degree in Business - General Management. Murray resume includes senior roles at iconic Australian companies Goodman Fielder, GrainCorp and Batlow Apples.
Murray now brings this vast experience to the National Food Institute training and assessing students specializing in Food & Beverage, Transport & Logistics and Leadership & Management fields.
Contact Details: murray.wilkinsong@nationalfoodinstitute.com.au
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Patrick Courtney
About PatrickPatrick Courtney
Patrick (Paddy) has been involved in various industries over the past 10 years, including Sales & Marketing, Human Resources, and the Vocational Educational Training space. He has worked with companies such as Hyundai Ireland, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and Adecco. Dealing with these large corporations has given Paddy the ability to work within and lead teams towards successful outcomes.
With a bachelor’s degree in marketing, extensive experience managing staff across various sectors and a strong business acumen, Paddy brings a contemporary approach to National Food Institute. He has worked with National Food Institute over the past two years as a workplace trainer and more recently has moved into the role of Program Manager, managing various school based apprenticeship/traineeship programs across Metro Melbourne and the Geelong Region.
Paddy has a keen interest in AFL and supports the Geelong Football Club. He enjoys spending time with his family, summers spent at Phillip Island and keeping fit.
Contact Details: patrick.courtney@nationalfoodinstitute.com.au
