Rob Gordon, Chief Executive Officer Of SunRice Featured In Executive Business Title, The CEO Magazine

Going from strength to strength, Rob Gordon speaks on the success of SunRice and what the future holds for this iconic brand

by Paris Brooks

(WireNews+Co) - Sydney, Australia - 29 January 2013

From its beginnings as a cooperative, SunRice has developed into one of the world’s largest rice food companies, adapting its product lines to suit changing lifestyles in the 21st century and leading the way in meal solutions. Its 60-year journey is a lesson in innovation and resilience peppered by remarkable achievements—all of this despite the Australian rice industry almost grinding to a halt four years ago.

A decade-long drought saw Australian rice production decline to just 19,000 tonnes in 2008—a far cry from the 1.2 million tonnes the industry is capable of producing. It took incredible foresight and effort to keep the business on track.

Against the odds, SunRice has re-emerged as one of the nation’s most successful companies, which was acknowledged when it was recently named the 2012 Australian Regional Exporter of the Year.

Today, SunRice comprises 2,100 employees around the world, with nine individual businesses and operations in Australia, New Zealand, the US, Asia–Pacific and Middle East. With 30 different brands under the one banner, SunRice supplies a range of nutritious foods to millions of people in close to 60 countries. Through its food ingredients and food-service divisions, it also contributes to thousands of other brands and businesses the world over.

While the SunRice brand is synonymous in Australia with high-quality rice and rice food products, the company is also strengthened by a broad portfolio of subsidiary and complementary businesses. Ranging from Riviana Foods’ leading brand of condiments and olives, Always Fresh, to Papua New Guinea’s favourite rice, Trukai, and its premium pet and livestock feed business, CopRice, SunRice is quite the force to be reckoned with.

But as large as SunRice has become, the company’s heart is still based in the Riverina, and the backbone of the business is the production of Australian rice. However, being a business so reliant on agricultural production presents a specific set of challenges. In particular, like all agribusiness organisations, SunRice has to manage a high level of variability thanks to the unpredictability of weather patterns, which influence both rice crop volume and yield levels. 

SunRice has experienced an impressive turnaround since then, and, with new CEO Rob Gordon at the helm, the business is focused on promising years ahead.

The full story can be found here (http://www.theceomagazine.com.au/SunRice/Rob_Gordon.pdf).

The CEO Magazine is Australia’s leading business magazine focused directly at high-level executives. The CEO Magazine is of unrivalled quality and has a hugely-influential readership of Australia's top businessmen and women. The CEO Magazine holds a prestigious partnership with a number of leading Australian airlines and can be seen in every Virgin and Qantas Business Lounge across Australia as well as all Hilton Hotels nationwide. The CEO Magazine also holds Australia's most prestigious awards night for high-level executives, the annual, Executive of the Year Awards. To find out more about The CEO Magazine go to http://www.TheCEOMagazine.com.au (http://www.TheCEOMagazine.com.au).