Cathy Chambers is the first female general manager to be appointed within the Costa operations. The Costa China farms grow blueberries, raspberries and blackberries in the Yunnan Province in southern China, employing more than 200 permanent local staff, five expatriates and more than 3600 casual and seasonal workers.
Cathy, who took on the role in June this year, said her key focus was continuing to drive the success and growth of the China business: “I’m obviously very excited to be involved in a rapidly growing business. In just seven years, we have grown from one farm of 25Ha to seven farms spread across three different regions with around 400 planted Ha. And we intend to keep expanding at a similar pace.”
“It takes an amazing and resilient team to sustain this kind of growth: developing a new farm each year, while successfully managing ever-larger operations, and for the last three years, all during a global pandemic. It’s a privilege to work with them,” Cathy added.
Cathy brings to the role a wealth of experience in a range of fields. She started her career as an electronics technician, working for the Department of Defense at the Garden Island Dockyard in Sydney. From there, Cathy moved into technical writing, project management, training design, computer based training development, a brief period in recruitment and technology product advertising, and later into roles including Operations Manager and Marketing Manager with Scientific Management Associates, a private company involved in integrated logistics support.
Source: costagroup.com.au