An enthusiastic finance, economics and beef business specialist, Alison has a life-long interest in agriculture, particularly the cattle industry. Raised on a mixed livestock and cropping farm near Warwick on the Darling Downs, Alison formalised her interest with a Bachelor of Agricultural Economics (UQ) and an MBA (UNE). With nearly 20 years’ experience in business management, Alison estimates she has worked intensively with 300 farming families. Predominantly NQ beef operations, many of these families have required business planning and management guidance, applications for finance, feasibility studies, project management, and succession planning advice. In 2016, Alison took on a board position for the RFCSNQ and in 2017, undertook the AICD governance and leadership course sponsored by Cattle Council. Awarded a 2018 Nuffield Scholarship, Alison has undertaken 4 months of international travel investigating ‘Better Business Management and Succession Planning in NQ Extensive Family Beef Businesses’, a topic that relates to both her family’s Limousin seedstock business at Evelyn, FNQ and the work undertaken in the $avannaPlan-Beef$ense and Beef$ense NextGen Mentoring projects. Alison’s exposure to Northern Gulf extensive beef operations, assisting them to identify and manage herd productivity, overgrazing, marketing, financial management, strategic planning and succession issues, has ensured her comprehensive understanding of NQ beef industry drivers.