Alison Penfold has had a focused career in issues management, stakeholder engagement, policy development and risk communications.

Her expertise has seen her work in a variety of influential roles in government and opposition, the corporate sector and representing industry.

In the political sphere, Alison has worked for three federal Agriculture Ministers, most recently as Chief of Staff to the Hon David Littleproud MP. From 2004 to 2006, she served as an Adviser to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade, the Hon Mark Vaile. She also served as State Director of the NSW Nationals for the 2007 State and Federal Election campaigns.

Alison also spent several years living in the Northern Territory and working as Senior Adviser and Chief of Staff to the Opposition Leader in the NT Parliament, the Hon Terry Mills. She is currently the Senior Adviser to the Minister for Regional Health and Minister Assisting the Minister for Trade and Investment, Dr the Hon David Gillespie MP.

Alison was the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Livestock Exporters Council from 2012 to 2016, supporting the sector undertake a social licence transformation following the 2011 export ban to Indonesia.

In the corporate sector Alison has worked as Government Relations Manager for the Woolworths Group with a particular focus on the impact of the company’s engagement with the agriculture sector. Most recently, Alison held a senior executive position with business strategy, risk and reputation management company Futureye and undertook a wide range of consulting projects across the resources, agriculture and social policy sectors.

Alison is Sydney born but in her formative years, grew up on a small poll Hereford stud on the mid north coast of NSW. She has an Asian Studies degree specialising in Korean language from the Australian National University. She currently resides in Canberra and in her downtime enjoys gardening, travel and long-distance walking.