Announcement from the AWEX Board: CEO Retirement

The AWEX Board announced that Mark Grave, CEO of AWEX, will retire at the end of June 2025 after 21 years as AWEX CEO. The Board acknowledges Mark’s outstanding leadership under which AWEX has played a critical role in enhancing Australian wool’s reputation in the global market.

Mark’s tenure has been marked by a series of transformative achievements for AWEX, including:

• The introduction and management of the National Wool Declaration (NWD), improving

transparency and market confidence in Australian wool.

• Overseeing the rewrite and implementation of AWEX wool systems to modern, cloud based,

supported IT platforms.

• The introduction of digitally captured AWEX ID Audits on all auction sale lots in all selling

Centres.

• Overseeing the registration of Australia’s Wool Classers across seven trienniums and

maintaining the Code of Practice for the preparation of Australian wool clips, a highly valued

industry standard.

• The introduction of the National Graduate Wool Classer Competition and Auction sale event at

the Sydney Royal Easter Show.

• Introducing the Masterclasser Program, further professionalising wool classing in Australia.

• Representing Australian wool in key international markets, building strong relationships with

countries like China, India and Italy and collaborating with other key wool producing nations

like New Zealand and South Africa.

• Spearheading the development and implementation of WoolClip and eBale, which have

transformed data capture and enabled digital traceability across the wool supply chain.

• Leading the launch of the Australian Wool Sustainability Scheme (AWSS), positioning

Australian wool to meet rising global demand for sustainable, ethically produced wool.

• Overseeing a review into wool pack design resulting in the 5 panel wool pack, improving its

performance to comply with road safety laws.

• A driver of industry consultation for AWEX standards and services through the Industry

Consultative Committee (formerly ISAC).

AWEX expresses its sincere gratitude to Mark for his contributions. His leadership has driven AWEX’s growth and success, ensuring the Australian wool industry remains trusted, innovative, resilient, and competitive on the world stage.

AWEX will shortly commence the process to recruit a suitable person to fill the CEO position.

Andreas Clark, Chair, on behalf of the AWEX Board

Source: AWEX