Our People

Farzana Adams
Chief Executive Officer
Farzana has a strong track record in the global food industry with over 20 years across fresh produce, seafood and poultry. Farzana’s expertise includes stakeholder management, food safety & quality management systems, HACCP, and compliance to global retail and food service customer requirements.
She has extensive global, multi-national, perishable, full end-to-end food value chain experience; bridging governance, strategy and operations. Farzana is equally comfortable on orchards, farms, packhouses, processing plants, corporate boardrooms or working with regulators. She is passionate about food safety, capacity building and enabling teams to achieve ambitious goals.
Her qualifications include a Master of Science in Food Safety from Michigan State University, an MBA from the Australian Institute of Business, and a Bachelor of Science in Food Technology and Applied Microbiology from the University of South Australia. She has also completed the Company Directors Course through the Institute of Directors New Zealand.
Farzana lives in the Bay of Plenty in New Zealand with her husband, Wayne and they enjoy outdoor pursuits such as golf, stand-up paddle boarding and skiing.

Susannah Roelofsz
Technical Officer
Susannah holds a Master of Science Degree in Microbiology and joins FPSC with over 20 years of Global Experience gained through Scientific Research and International Publication, Laboratory Services, Food Manufacturing, Regulatory Food Safety and Quality Auditing, Training and Assessment, Technical and Quality Management. Susannah has worked with all areas of Supply Chain and Key Stakeholders including Growers, Post-harvest facilities, Manufacturers, Suppliers, Regulators, Customers, Food Service, Retail, Transport and Storage, Laboratory and Certification.
In her most recent role as Zespri Quality Assurance Manager, Susannah provided Strategic Leadership in the implementation of the Quality Assurance Program, and was a key communicator across Global Operations Teams, Post-Harvest Sector and Global Markets. Her professional interests are in food safety, quality, HACCP and the microbiological ecology of foods.
Susannah has recently immigrated from NZ to Brisbane with her husband, two boys & labrador, and enjoys sightseeing, photography, cooking and biking in her spare time.

Jody Sharpe
Communications and Events Officer
Jody is a marketing allrounder with over 25 years of experience. She brings to FPSC her extensive creative design, marketing strategy, digital and social media marketing, stakeholder engagement, public relations and event management skills.
In her previous role as Marketing Officer with the Interior Fitout Association, she was responsible for coordinating the Association’s marketing and communication plans and campaigns and assisted with the delivery of national events and conferences. This experience, combined with her project management, collaboration and communication skills, sees Jody well placed to deliver the International Fresh Produce Safety Symposium and other FPSC events and communications.
Jody lives on the sunny Central Coast of NSW with her husband and has two adult children, and a fur baby who loves to tag along on caravanning and sight-seeing adventures!

Michelle Merrett
Accounts Officer
As a dedicated and detail-oriented accounting professional Michelle Merrett has been meeting the account needs of corporations and individuals for the past 25 years. Her experience working with both corporations and individual clients has allowed her to easily navigate the financial world.
Michelle obtained her Bachelor of Account Degree at Western Sydney University and began her career working for Hunter Douglas as a Credit Manager then proceeded to advance her career into a Financial Project management role before leaving and starting a bookkeeping service for corporations and small businesses.
Michelle has taken on the role of Accounts Officer with us and her responsibilities include overseeing the financial data, invoicing, ledger entries, and reports.