dick's profile

Dick's background training is as a Food Technologist and he has a B.Tech (Food Tech) degree from Massey University. His first job was as a Research Scientist for the N.Z. Co-op Dairy Co Ltd in Hamilton developing specialised powders for the baking trade. After two years there (working under a bond) he left having learnt:
     a) he didn't want to be a Research Scientist and...
     b) he didn't want to work for a large corporate for forty years.

In 1971, Dick was faced with the decision of accepting a job offer as a lecturer in dairy technology at Massey University (the safe option) or accepting a position as Project Manager to set up a tropical fruit processing factory on Niue (the unsafe option). He chose the latter! Dick found the experience on Niue profoundly satisfying, as he had to build a tropical fruit processing company from scratch in a very isolated environment. It was akin to building his own company but with someone else's money. This project had social as well as financial aims and this is where Dick first became interested in running enterprises with combined financial and social objectives. This laid the groundwork for some of his work on "Social Responsibility in Business."

In 1975, Dick returned to New Zealand after the three-year term and took up the position of Assistant General Manager to Tasti Products Ltd. This company was relatively small in 1975 (turnover $1 million). It had a low profitability and a tenuous existence. Over a 13-year period he assisted to build this company up to a turnover of $16 million in 1987. In the last four years of employment, Dick was Chief Executive. This company was entrepreneurial and when he left, it was profitable, had a diversified product range and had a sound management structure in place.

In 1987, Dick made the decision to leave paid employment and set up Hubbard Foods Ltd. The rest as they say, is history!

As per the following, Dick has been heavily involved in community and professional organisations. This has also been important and this has largely been entwined with the development of the company.