Executive Leadership Team

Zhiqiang Li

Resident Director

Zhiqiang is the Resident Director of Yili Group in Australia and New Zealand as well as the Resident Director of Westland Milk Products. He is responsible for the overall governance, development, supervision and direction of the Yili Group in Australia and New Zealand.

Zhiqiang has nearly 20 years’ experience in the dairy industry. He has spent many years in management roles related to supply chain, procurement, and production processes for the Yili Group, while working to develop the company's overseas strategic management and sustainable profitability. While General Manager and Procurement Director for Yili, he built a centralised procurement model for marketing and purchasing as well as a localised supplier delivery model. This work achieved procurement cost savings and improvements. By integrating Yili’s supply chain digital operations into this model, he helped lay the foundations for the development of Yili’s industry-leading digital supply chain. Zhiqiang is responsible for combining the management cultures of China, Australia and New Zealand for the Yili Group and exploring unique and innovative ways of doing business for multinational investment enterprises.

Richard Wyeth

Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

Richard Wyeth has a long history within the New Zealand food and fibre sector. Within the dairy industry, Richard helped establish Open Country Dairy during its formative years before taking on the role of founding CEO for Miraka in 2010; a company he helped build from a greenfield development. He has also held management positions with Coca-Cola Amatil and DB Breweries. In 2013 Richard was awarded a Prime Minister’s scholarship which enabled him to study at the INSEAD Business School in Singapore and Abu Dhabi. 

Mark Lockington

General Manager Environment & Milk Supply

Mark joined Westland Co-operative Dairy Company in 2002 as the head of finance and became company secretary in 2008. Prior to joining Westland Dairy, Mark worked in various financial, accounting, administrative and management roles in the agriculture, mining and infrastructure industries in New Zealand and Australia.

Hamish Yates

General Manager Sales and Marketing

Hamish joined Westland Milk Products in 2015 and following progression through a number of senior and executive positions, moved into the GM Sales and Marketing role in December 2020. With more than 20 years’ sales and marketing management experience, Hamish is responsible for delivering Westland’s sales revenue, volumes and profits across our various sales channels; market and product development; marketing strategy and execution; and brand management

Dr. Anil Kaw

General Manager Innovation

Anil is an experienced food scientist with decades of experience across major international and New Zealand food and dairy businesses. With a graduate degree of a Bachelor of Science, and post-graduate qualifications of a Master of Science in Dairy Chemistry, a Ph. D in Food Technology, and an Executive MBA from Massey University, he also brings a wealth of highly technical and operational knowledge to the business. Anil has worked across the dairy business, from plant management to his career point now in driving innovation for the growing international market for nutritious, healthy products.