Staff
Our staff have a diverse range of qualifications and experience to ensure one of the team is a good match for your need, type of farm, business requirements and region.
Nerida Kerr – Executive Officer
Nerida brings a wealth of experience and a life-time commitment to agriculture, economic, community development and social service provision to her role with RFCS Vic-NE, which she commenced in July 2012.
Nerida previously held key regional roles with Regional Development Victoria in management, business and economic development and community capacity building.
She has worked in economic development with the local government areas of Wodonga and Towong, managed home and community care services and managed Neighbourhood House and adult and community education program delivery. During that time, she established and maintained extensive community, agency and business relationships and networks. Nerida also shares her skills through voluntary work in local and regional communities.
In March 2013, she was inducted into the Victorian Women’s Honour Role for services to the community, of which rural financial counselling was a major component. Nerida’s involvement with rural financial counselling services started in 1992 when she joined the inaugural committee of management of North East AgCare.
Nerida was also a founding member of Rural Financial Counselling Service Victoria – North East and remained a Director until she resigned, before taking up the Executive Officer position. Nerida studied Business Management, Social Work and Dairy Farm Management.
Nerida is based in our Wodonga office and regularly travels throughout the region.
Jan Barned
Jan Barned is a qualified accountant who has been specialising in assisting small business for over 20 years. She is passionate about empowering business owners and managers to become self-sufficient in improving their overall business and financial performance. She is an award-winning author, having published over 50 small business resources, and is an experienced speaker and facilitator.
Heather Bidgood
Heather displays a strong customer focus and a raft of complementary skills she gained with her previous employment in sales, clerical, and finance roles. Her rural background makes her a valued member of the AgBiz team. Heather is based in the Wodonga office as Client Support Officer.
Maryanne Black
Maryanne has dedicated her career to agriculture and holds a Bachelor of Agricultural Science. Maryanne’s area of expertise is dairy and she provides a broad knowledge of livestock, broadacre and horticultural enterprises. She is currently based in our Numurkah office.
Dan Fewster
Dan is an experienced general manager with over 20 years’ experience, both on the tools and at the helm within the IT industry.
Dan’s passion to work more closely with the community has seen him join the team to help develop our core strategies as well as improve our service offerings.
Carl Fraser
Carl has a wide range of specialist knowledge from years of practical farming as a wool classer, shearer and farmer. He has applied this knowledge to serve AgBiz Assist clients. Carl specialises in sheep, beef, broadacre and horticultural farming services and is based in our Benalla office.
Chris Howard
Chris has worked in the agricultural sector for over twenty five years. He is a passionate advocate for the rural communities of North East Victoria and member of a number of industry and community bodies in the area. Chris commenced with AgBiz Assist in 2008, initially as a Rural Financial Counsellor before taking on the role of Program Manager. Chris holds various qualifications in accounting, business administration and training and assessment. Chris is based in the Shepparton office.
Suzie Jacobs
Clinton Kilday
Clint brings more than 12 years of valuable experience and knowledge of the Information Technology and Telecommunications industry to his Account Management and Business Development role. His qualifications in multimedia and website development have already been acknowledged by his team taking out a prestigious Business Chamber Award for Excellence in Professional/Business Services.
Serge Minicozzi
With 25 years of dairy farming experience, Serge brings extensive knowledge and a personal understanding of the difficulties faced by farmers. Serge commenced with RFCS Vic-NE in August 2016 and has previously worked with rural communities in North Central Victoria providing business management services and training. Serge is in our Shepparton office.
Jim Moll
Jim is an agricultural scientist/economist with over 20 years of experience in agricultural research and extension. His speciality is assisting clients to run profitable and sustainable businesses. His knowledge and skills cover a wide range of agricultural industries including dairying, broadacre grazing and cropping, irrigated grain, horticulture and viticulture. Jim is in our Benalla office.
Jackie Morgan
As an accomplished professional with hands on experience specialising in marketing, sales and the development of existing and start-up operations, Jackie’s interest in business and community are built on a personal understanding.
Her easy to understand, friendly and supportive approach is an easy fit for our organisation and reflects her enviable reputation for empowering others by cutting through the ‘tech-talk’ to close the digital gap and help them implement highly effective digital media and marketing strategies.
Warwick Philpott
Warwick has been delivering professional services for the past 30 years across Victoria, NSW and Tasmania. He has a farming and small business background in addition to holding qualifications in business, finance, property and agricultural economics. Warwick is in our Benalla office.
Richard Raymond
His expansive background in helping the agricultural and dairying sectors confront the challenges and ever present need to adapt and change has equipped Richard with a deep understanding of human nature and corporate culture. This has been key to his success in developing and implementing business strategy and change management practices within his leadership and human resources roles.
Darren Secomb
Coming from a broadacre cereal and prime lamb family property on the Adelaide Plains, Darren’s real-life experiences support his conviction that the best decisions are based on effective communications coupled with a thorough understanding of all aspects of business.
With the recent relocation to Victoria with his wife, Cherrie, Darren is keen to continue his career focused on assisting farming families with their financial management and succession planning needs. His career in rural banking and an ag science degree provide Darren with all the right tools to make a real difference in his role as a Rural Financial Counsellor.
Lyn Shannon
With a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture (Agronomy), Lyn has 18 years’ experience in irrigated cropping and pasture operations. Lyn has extensive knowledge of budgeting and bookkeeping, having ran her own irrigation farm business and provided bookkeeping services for corporate and large family farm businesses. Lyn is passionate about assisting people to understand their financial position and supporting them to make well informed business decisions. Lyn is in our Wodonga office.
Lynda Wilson
Lynda’s farm background nurtured her strong interest in agribusiness and sustainable farming. Her considerable experience supporting executives and teams in the public and private sectors in agriculture, education and local government, stands her in good stead to co-ordinate the compliance and office activities of the organisation and support the Board of Directors.