The NTLEA Executive Team

Nick Thorne

Chairman: Nick Thorne

Nick Thorne was head stockman at Wave Hill and Tipperary stations prior to becoming an agricultural logistics entrepreneur.
He has founded two livestock shipping companies held an export license and been an owner/operator of an export yard for twenty five years.

Patrick Underwood

Vice Chairman: Patrick Underwood

Patrick Underwood is a third-generation Northern Territory pastoralist and a stalwart of both the north Australian pastoral and beef cattle export industries. Patrick previously managed the North Australian Cattle Company (NACC) before establishing Australian Cattle Enterprises in 2019. He previously served as CEO of the Northern Territory Livestock Exporters Association (NTLEA), and General Manager of Livestock Exports for Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA), and was named the livestock industry’s Young Achiever of the Year in 2003. Patrick is a board member of both the Australian Livestock Exporters Council (ALEC) and the Northern Territory Buffalo Industry Council (NTBIC) and is the vice chairman of the NTLEA.

Brooke Barkla

Executive Member: Brooke Barkla

Brooke is the Business Development Manager for CPC’s Indonesian feedlot operations in Sumatera, Indonesia. CPC is a leading Agribusiness company that operates nine station aggregations with more than 300,000 head of cattle in Australia and two feedlots in Indonesia.

Charles Vaughan

Executive Member: Charles Vaughan

Charles is currently managing a vertically integrated export business feeding territory bred cattle in Lampung, Indonesia. Charles is a vet by trade and has previously worked as an NT based exporter servicing South East Asia.

Annika Pyle

Executive Member: Annika Pyle

Annika has been the Operations Manager for AUSTREX for the past 3 years, overseeing the operational management, logistics & regulatory requirements of live cattle exports out of ports across Northern Australia. AUSTREX is a leader in the global livestock industry and a pioneer of the livestock export trade.  Over the 50+ years of operating, AUSTREX have built a reputation for prioritising animal welfare while providing innovative livestock supply chain solutions.

Patrick Moran

CEO: Patrick Moran

Patrick is an admitted lawyer, with a decade of experience in public policy. As an adviser, Patrick covered the agriculture portfolio for the then-CLP Opposition for a number of years. Patrick also worked as a project officer for NT Farmers in 2021, leading an initiative to decrease regulatory compliance costs for agriculture producers. Prior to moving to Darwin in 2015, Patrick worked as a barrister in the United States, prosecuting securities actions involving some of the largest corporations in the world.