That is the message from the Dunedin-based agribusiness consulting company’s new group managing director Nadia McLean who takes over the role from Dr Peter Amer.
Ms McLean, who studied veterinary nursing, always stressed to new staff that a doctorate was not required to succeed. “Those without science qualifications are just as valuable, we need everybody,” she said.
Born and raised in Dunedin, Ms McLean was a self-described “horsey girl” who had family farming in the Cardrona Valley and always felt that rural connection and knew she wanted to do something in the rural sector.
She got a foot in the door with a maternity leave cover position at AgResearch’s Invermay site where she exposed herself to as many different areas of the organisation, from molecular biology to meat quality and genomics.
It was a good training ground for getting across multiple species, different areas of science and gaining a good grounding, she recalled.
She was at Invermay for nearly 15 years and worked her way up as far as she could before she joined a large farming business for several years and then on to AbacusBio 13 years ago initially as a consultant. She knew many of the team from her Invermay days.
She later took on a management role inside the company as it began its international expansion, setting up an office in the United Kingdom.
Over time, that evolved into a full-time job managing the team which also included Canada, where an office opened two years ago, and last year having employees on the Sunshine Coast in Australia.
As the firm expanded globally, having someone to manage people and culture had been a key role in the business and that was a natural fit for her. With her background at Invermay, she was used to dealing with scientists and understanding how they think.
Something rather unique about Abacus was it had always had “homegrown” managing directors, it had never recruited for a leader.
With considerable growth in the business, her key focus was around building the teams and continuing to keep that connection as it grew globally. It might have about 50 people but it still felt like a small business, she said.
AbacusBio is a finalist in the science and technology category in The Grand Business South Awards in Dunedin later this month and that process had been a good opportunity to reflect where the company had been, she said.
Ms McLean took on a shareholding of the company about three years ago, something she always had aspirations for.
As she reflected on “all the incredible leaders” there had been in the business, she said the sense of responsibility was not lost on her.
She recognised there were “big footsteps to follow” but she would also bring different strengths to the role.
Life was busy for Ms McLean who has an eight-year-old daughter and twin five-year-old sons but she was grateful for a very supportive partner. Evenings were often used as an opportunity to connect with AbacusBio’s international team.
AbacusBio was very good at being a family-friendly work environment and she believed that demonstrating that was quite powerful.
