Peter Luxton, UMF Honey Association Commissioner
UMF Honey Association has appointed an independent Commissioner to protect the interests of the brand and adjudicate in the first instance of any dispute
Initially working for the Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) from 1974 – 1986, Peter's sponsibilities included being Senior Private Secretary in the Office of Minister of Regional Development; NZ Trade Commissioner roles based in Vienna and The Hague focused on trade development & promotion, and bilateral & multilateral trade policy advocacy; and a period as NZ’s Charge d’Affaires in The Hague. During his career with DTI Peter was awarded a State Services Commission scholarship to undertake full-time postgraduate study. Peter was subsequently recruited by the NZ Kiwifruit Authority to open & establish the kiwifruit industries own direct representation in Europe. He spent the next 16 years based in Europe variously as Resident Manager, European Marketing Manager and Regional Manager – Southern Europe for New Zealand Kiwifruit. In this latter role, Peter had the “Market Contribution” responsibility for Southern Europe (primarily France, Spain & Portugal, Italy and the UK
& Ireland). | 
Peter Luxton is an experienced international marketer,
negotiator, value chain architect and strategist.
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Since returning to NZ in 2001 Peter was first GM Global Marketing Services & subsequently GM Strategy & Business Development for Zespri International. The former role encompassed being the Zespri Brand Champion; Category Management of the Zespri Green, Gold and Organic businesses; Guardianship of Zespri’s ”IP” in the brand (via trademark and other protection) and other exclusivities (incl. new varieties per PVR, and the “SPE”). The latter role evolved to deliver a sharper focus on New Business, New Ventures, Global Optimisation, and Strategy & Business Development within Zespri International.
During this period Peter was also a member of the Horticulture NZ “Industry Advisory Group” developing a new Sector Strategic Plan (current); the Markets Working Group of NZ Food & Beverage Taskforce (2005-06) and subsequently the Implementation Group (2007); the Pipfruit Industry Strategic Plan Working Group (2006-07); and the Executive Committee of Export Bay of Plenty (2006-08). He has also been an invited speaker to numerous industry and professional fora including the Horticulture NZ Annual Conference 2008, Asia-NZ Foundation ”Asia Aware” series 2008, Export NZ “From Export Trade to Global Business” series, EU “The Europe Series”, Kellogg’s Rural Leadership & FAME courses at Lincoln University, Australian Banana Industry Congress, Norwegian Salmon Farmers Conference and similar.
- Peter finished with Zespri in late 2008 and has meantime established his own consultancy business Burgeon Solutions which provides strategic & marketing consultancy, facilitation and representation services. Recent or current assignments include:
- specific consultancy projects involving the “Growing a New Future” Horticulture Industry Strategy 2009-2020 – clients Horticulture NZ and Deloitte;
- the allocation of contestable funding for Export Market Development for NZ Aquaculture – client Aquaculture NZ/ NZTE;
- undertaking an Export Marketing Review and preparing a Market Development Strategy for onions – client A S Wilcox & Sons;
- an organisational Strategic Review – client United Fresh; the development of an Export Marketing Strategy & Plan – client NZ Buttercup Squash Council;
- and the development of an Industry Strategy and Export Strategy & Plan – client Potatoes NZ.
- an independent directorship (The AgriChain Centre), and
- judging for the Bay of Plenty Export Awards 2009 & 2010, including as Head Judge of the Emerging Exporter of the Year category
Peter has also established Splice Fruit Limited, which began exporting New Zealand kiwifruit into China and Europe during 2010 under the “collaborative marketing” provisions of the Kiwifruit Export Regulations.