The visionary entrusted to run the Crown's huge farming assets

Pāmu, or Landcorp, is the biggest owner of farmland in the country, which means Mark Leslie, its chief executive, is effectively the farmer of an area the size of greater Auckland.

Pāmu is the brand under which state-owned Landcorp Farming Ltd runs more than 100 dairy, sheep, beef, and deer farms around the country – more than 365,000 hectares. Leslie has run the company since 2022, having arrived from red-meat processor Silver Fern Farms.

He has won praise for taking an unloved state landowner and turning the company into a productive and efficient farming operation. That included jettisoning its Pāmu Foods consumer brand and planning to exit its controlling stake in the Spring Sheep Milk Co.

“Leslie does a good job of fronting it – both in focusing the business on outcomes and also being an industry role model,” says Riley Kennedy, who covers primary industries for BusinessDesk.

Pāmu is required to deliver strong commercial returns, return land under the Treaty of Waitangi claims settlements process, and uphold high standards of environmental care and animal welfare.

Leslie is a finalist in the public sector category of the BusinessDesk CEO Index. Our independent panel of judges said of him: “Mark shows very strong leadership across the agriculture sector … It's not a short-term turnaround in terms of the nature of the business.”

BusinessDesk asked Leslie about his experience in dealing with the five CEO Index criteria: vision, impact, innovation, resilience, and influence.

Vision: With his new senior leadership team, Leslie says, his priority has been about taking things back to basics. “It starts with ensuring the vision, ‘Cultivating a Bold Tomorrow, Together’, is simple and clear and then making it real for individuals by connecting what they do every day.”

Leslie says he believes in good storytelling to help bring his vision alive. “Storytelling is always powerful to illustrate how the vision shows up in practical ways on-farm or within teams, helping people see their role in bringing it to life.”

He says he wants consistency across all forms of communication, from written updates to face-to-face conversations.

“I place strong emphasis on authentic communication, using straightforward, relatable language that connects with people whether they’re in the boardroom or on the farm.” 

Building and maintaining partnerships with trusted organisations and individuals who share Pāmu’s vision has also been important, says the CEO. “These relationships reinforce Pāmu’s credibility and provide collective strength to support the direction for the agricultural sector.”

Impact: When it comes to measuring his impact as a leader, the Pāmu CEO says he can look at improvement in performance outcomes and creating an environment in which people can succeed.

“But equally, as a leader, I gauge my impact by staying closely connected to our people and the day-to-day reality of their work,” says Leslie, who says he prioritises authenticity.

He regularly visits teams on-farm and in their workplaces to hear firsthand what’s working and where improvements could be made.

He says he personally reads the annual Pāmu staff survey because everyone’s voice and input are valued. This questionnaire normally throws up more than 5,000 comments and gives insights that help to strengthen Pāmu’s culture, he says.

Innovation: Leslie says he has shifted leadership from central control and siloed operations to a regional operating model aligned with the company's vision, a move that he believes is more empowering.

“We’ve enabled farm and regional teams to make decisions, bringing leadership closer to where the work happens and delivering significant uplift in performance.”

Leslie and his team have also introduced more collaborative cross-functional problem-solving through working groups that bring people together from across the business. They address a range of projects, such as dairy beef integration, emissions reduction, and animal welfare.

He has also encouraged partnerships with trusted external experts who bring in new thinking.

New ideas have to be meaningful and grounded in what matters most to Pāmu, “such as our work to improve farm performance, dairy, beef, health and safety, and sustainability, but it will also have flow-on benefits to the wider agricultural sector“.

Resilience: Among the challenges Leslie says he has experienced over his years in leadership, the recovery from the tropical cyclone that devastated parts of the North Island in February 2023 was a big one.

 “Cyclone Gabrielle is an example that impacted our farms and our teams personally,” he says. “In each case, my approach has been consistent: treat every challenge as an opportunity to learn, take the time to reflect on the key takeaways, and don’t be afraid to seek advice or perspective from others.”

Influence: The Pāmu CEO says he would like his influence to be seen as authentic, grounded, and focused on Pāmu earning the right to share lessons learnt from its performance improvements.

For it to have credibility in the sector and to be a leader, the organisation first had to demonstrate excellence in its core farming performance, getting the basics right on-farm consistently and transparently, he says. He believes Pāmu can now play a leadership role in key areas like animal genetics, climate mitigation, and adaptation.

“I’d like others to see that my influence helped Pāmu not only improve its own performance but also contributed meaningfully to the wider agricultural sector’s progress and sustainable journey,” he says.

A good book: Artificial Intelligence for Business: Harness AI for Value, Growth and Innovation by Kamales Lardi. Leslie says this is "a straightforward and practical guide that helps leaders understand how AI can be used to improve performance, drive innovation, and create new opportunities”.

Sliding doors: If he could swap jobs, Leslie says, “I’d love to work inside a high-performance sports organisation as a coach or performance director with one of New Zealand’s top teams. The parallels between leading teams on the field and in business are strong.”

● Mark Leslie is a finalist in the public sector category of the inaugural BusinessDesk CEO Index. The category winner and overall winner will be announced on November 18.

● Read more of the BusinessDesk CEO Index here.