Brazil’s First Female Salesperson for NZ, Negotiating the Sale of TipTop as CEO, How to Excel in New Roles & Sales, & Create Thriving Team Cultures - this is Kim Ballinger’s journey.

This conversation follows Kim Ballinger’s success in the Global Dairy Industry, starting out in a technical role with a Chemical Technology degree to being the first female salesperson in Brazil for NZ Milk Products. Hear her leadership journey which saw one of her teams get the highest engagement scores in Fonterra after only leading it for a year. We discuss her learnings as CEO of TipTop before and during the process of its sale and reflections on her time so far as CEO of AsureQuality, NZ’s leading food quality state-owned enterprise.

All of this epic story from a shy girl from Invercargill. 

Time Stamps:

1:12 Growing Up in Invercargill, Family Life, Moving to Tauranga in Yr13

8:11 Massey University Experience

10:20 First Job out of Uni - Should you Follow the Money?

13:38 Key Growth and Career Foundations in your Early 20s

15:38 Standing Out as a Graduate/New Team member - Excellence Award in her first year

20:02 Kim’s Habit you NEED to Adopt 

22:21 Heading to Mexico (Scorpion Story!)

26:44 What makes doing an OE worthwhile?

30:09 Becoming the First Female Salesperson in Brazil’s Dairy Industry

35:39 Navigating Mass Currency Devaluation & Learning Brazilian Culture

38:22 To the USA - Business Development for a New Factory

42:08 Stepping into Leadership - Building Trust

46:18 Creating a Thriving Culture & Excellent Results in a Global Team

48:46 Reflections on being a Working Mum

56:12 Strategy & China - Why the Chinese Market Teaches you so Much

59:42 Highest Team Engagement Score in Fonterra, within 12 months as  a Leader

1:05:57 Succeeding as a Woman in the Primary Industries

1:08:34 Becoming Fonterra’s Brand Marketing Manager after the Botulism Scare

1:10:55 Launching Fonterra’s Purpose

1:12:52 Why taking a Demotion Led to Success

1:15:55 Starting in her First CEO Role - TipTop Ice Cream 

1:18:23 Negotiating the Sale of TipTop

1:21:51 Most Proud Achievements at TipTop

1:23:05 CEO of a State-Owned Enterprise - AsureQuality

1:24:40 Favourite learnings from AsureQuality

1:26:05 Final Thoughts leadership, adapting, balancing your focus on the present vs future