CBH Deputy Chair elected to International Co-operative Alliance - Asia Pacific Regional Board
The CBH Group is pleased to announce our Deputy Chair Natalie Browning has become the first Australian to have been elected to the International Co-operative Alliance - Asia Pacific Regional Board.
The International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) represents co-operatives from across the world with members from 318 organisations from 112 countries. Members are from all sectors of the economy, including agriculture, banking, consumer, fisheries, health, housing, insurance, and services. The top 300 co-operatives globally have a combined turnover of more than USD$2.14 trillion and employ approximately 10 per cent of the world’s workers.
The ICA has four regional offices - Asia Pacific, Africa, Americas and Europe – which all help to implement the Alliance’s activities of supporting, promoting and uniting the global co-operative movement.The 11-person Board is elected via a vote of its Asia-Pacific members.
Ms Browning, who will represent Australia for the next four years, said she was pleased to have been elected to the Board.
“I am excited to have the opportunity to play a role in increasing awareness and recognition of Australia’s co-ops and mutuals and the important contribution they make to the economy and community in the Asia-Pacific region,” Ms Browning said.
“CBH has long-standing trading relationships in the Asia-Pacific region and valuable insights and experience that I look forward to contributing to.
“The co-operative business model can drive further economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region as it delivers member value in many forms, not just profit.
“Co-ops look after communities, social values and the environment in which they operate, and I am looking forward to further contributing to the success of the cooperative model.”
Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals, Chief Executive Officer, Melina Morrison said, “We are delighted that Ms Browning has been elected to the Regional Board, the first Australian to do so. Ms Browning not only represents Australia’s largest co-operative on the Board, hersuccessful election means the voice of Australia’s more than 2,000 co-operatives will be represented regionally.
“Australia’s presence on the Board is an opportunity to explore research, education and trade collaboration with the region’s thousands of co-operatives active in agriculture, fishing, food processing, banking and insurance.”
Ms Browning was elected to the Board of CBH Group as a Grower Director in February 2018 and appointed as Deputy Chair in April 2020.
In 2020, Ms Browning was chosen as a co-operative farming ambassador and champion for the Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals’ (BCCM) Co-operative Farming program.
Ms Browning operates a continuous cropping operation on an8,000-hectare property in Kondinin, located 280 kilometres east of Perth, Western Australia’s capital city.