Executive Team
Masterpet is a family, and the executive team are the heads of that family. They make decisions and lead, but they also take care to listen to their teams, to nurture their teams to grow, to learn and to one day step into their shoes.
So here they are - take a moment to get to know these hard working, dedicated individuals that make up our extremely qualified executive team. We are so proud of them and everything they do!
Julie Dillon
Chief Executive Officer, Animal Care
Julie is responsible for running all facets of the business, bringing more than 25 years leadership experience across general management, brand marketing, digital, strategy and innovation. Prior to this, Julie was Vice President and General Manager of the Colgate-Palmolive Division of Hill’s Pet Nutrition business for Australia, New Zealand and Greater Asia. This followed an extensive career internationally within many Colgate-Palmolive consumer product segments across the US, the UK and Europe.
Julie is a mum and pet parent to Monti, a pint-sized Jack Russell who seems to enjoy coming into the Masterpet office.
Grant Viney
Executive General Manager
Grant takes care of the strategic direction of Masterpet and has been with the organisation for several years. He loves helping people become the best pet parents they can be and making a difference to people’s lives. Originally from Norah Head, north of Sydney, Grant has a background in consumer goods and has worked in roles across confectionery, alcohol, home care, pet care and biscuits in Australia, New Zealand, Eastern Europe and Asia for 25 years.
Outside of work, Grant follows football, collects wine and is a keen golfer with a single figure handicap. He also recently bought a bloodhound puppy home and is loving the experience.
Celeste Fraei
Head of Sales New Zealand
Celeste heads up the New Zealand sales team, working with a wide range of clients, including supermarkets, pet stores, vet clinics, kennels, catteries and farms. She believes her role perfectly blends her commercial experience with her passion for pets. Celeste enjoys mentoring the young people in her team and sees success in her role as having an engaged and motivated team of people who enjoy what they do every day, as well as the satisfaction of knowing that what she does improves the lives of pets all over New Zealand. Celeste is well suited to her role, with more than two decades of sales experience in fast moving consumer goods, entertainment and media.
Celeste is a mum to a 13 year old, loves her 2 cats and 1 dog and one day hopes a lifestyle block might allow her to expand her pet family to a small petting zoo!
Aaron Chillingworth
Head of Marketing Australia
Responsible for building brand strategy and executing this through consumer communications, product development and activation throughout Australia, Aaron loves talking with consumers to understand what drives their behaviour and turning that into ways to connect with them. He is especially proud of the work he and his team have done over the last 5 years to build Masterpet’s brands to market leading positions.
Having spent time for major retail companies as a supervisor, duty manager, then later in roles in field sales, trade marketing and brand management, Aaron knows his field extremely well.
Growing up, Aaron had dogs, birds and fish at home and cattle on his family’s farm and now has two Labradoodles named Bear and Teddy who are regular visitors to the Masterpet offices.
Jessie Baxter
Head of Marketing New Zealand
Jessie leads the marketing team for Masterpet in New Zealand, setting strategic brand objectives and implementing activities to achieve those goals. From launching new products to executing media campaigns to ensuring in-store executional excellence, her team helps pet parents to connect with our brands.
It was while studying International Business as part of her Bachelor of Commerce degree at university, Jessie found that she was really drawn to marketing. She enjoys the direct involvement that marketers have in the overall business strategy and the role that brands play in the everyday lives of customers. Nothing feels better than reading a message from a pet owner, about how much of a difference Masterpet brands have made to their pet’s health and happiness.
Jessie comes home to Rosie, her youthful Springer Spaniel, who she calls her "dream come true".
Ruth Butler
Category and Insights Manager Australia and New Zealand
Ruth uses her skills in analytics to transform data into actionable insights, helping Masterpet to make data-driven decisions. She enjoys working with a diverse group of people from a wide range of disciplines which helps her to learn something new every day. Ruth firmly believes that an organisation can have all the data in the world, but unless it is accessible and understood by the majority, it is useless.
She considers herself a story-teller, translating data into useful actionable insights. She uses her bachelor’s degree in mathematics, Postgraduate Diploma in Economics and Master Science degree in Financial Economics from University College Cork, where she also lectured econometrics quantitative analysis and methods.
Outside work, Ruth loves exploring the country she now calls home, Australia.
Ming Wong
Commercial Manager
As key finance business partner to the Executive General Manager and broader executive team, Ming provides commercial support that informs smart decision making. He loves looking at the story behind the numbers and being able to interact with diverse stakeholders. With over 20 years of finance and commercial experience in Fast Moving Consumer Goods, Ming is uniquely qualified to provide insightful analyses that result in profitability.
In his spare time, Ming follows NBA basketball and enjoys bush walks and spending time with his family. Though he doesn’t have any pets at present, he hopes to one day have a dog.