Brianna Peake set to jet to the US for new role as WA Investment and Trade Commissioner for the Americas

Brianna Peake’s new career adventure to Austin, Texas, is a world away from her farming roots at Dalwallinu.

But the former CBH leader says she is ready for the challenge after landing in the US for a three-year contract as WA’s new Investment and Trade Commissioner for the Americas.

Ms Peake wrapped up her role as CBH’s chief of stakeholder relations, sustainability and strategy in March, ending a 15-year career with the co-operative.

Originally from a farm at Dalwallinu, she — like many others — started her time at CBH working on the “bins”, or grain receival sites, in university holidays.

In 2010, she started working at CBH Group’s head office in Perth in 2010 as its grower relations manager, before going on to hold other senior positions including marketing communications adviser and government and industry relations manager.

Ms Peake said her career progression to CBH Group’s top leadership roles had unfolded organically.

“I have never been someone with a specific career plan... but I have taken opportunities as they have arisen,” she said.

“CBH is interesting, and complex, and diverse, and there is the opportunity to work across so many different things.

“I have been lucky to work across a lot of different areas, and that has given me such an amazing experience.”

The Austin arm of Investment and Trade WA is one of six co-ordinated by the WA Government, with an ASEAN branch having offices across South East Asia, as well as offices in Greater China, India-Gulf, North East Asia, and the UK / Europe.

The WA Government describes the commissioner role as a “front door” to help investors and businesses in the US to engage with WA businesses interested in reaching their “full export potential”.

For Ms Peake, it means a new focus on industries like defence, critical minerals, medical and life sciences — although she understandably also has an interest in ag-tech.

She replaces Natasha Monks, who was employed to establish the WA Government’s Americas Hub in July 2023 before returning to her substantive role as executive of the Great Southern Development Commission in March.

“It is positioned to try and attract US investment into WA and grow the market for small to medium enterprise businesses that are trying to crack into the US market,” Ms Peake said.

“So for start-up or scale-up companies looking to grow... how can we support them to trade into the US?”

The move to Texas, a nearly 17,000km from Perth, has her feeling more excited than nervous.

“Texas works for me, I’m a country girl, so there is an element of feeling like I won’t get lost there,” she laughed.

“But Austin has become a bit of a mini Silicone Valley, and I can work across a range of new industries.”

“The US is an amazing place... I am going there at an interesting time, but the people are friendly, and I enjoy that it is so hard-nosed commercially. The business world there is quite cut and thrust.”

While Ms Peake said she was “without a doubt” sad to leave CBH, she felt she it was in “a good place”, with strong leadership.

Her role has been filled by CBH’s former head of operations David Paton, who filled her position for nearly a year when Ms Peake swapped corporate life in Perth for a secondment as the businesses’ Geraldton Zone general manager in 2022.

At the end of the 2022-23 harvest, she travelled to the US to study at Harvard Business School before returning to the chief role.

“It is a mixture of sadness because I have loved it so much, and I am really proud of the business I have worked for and the team I have been able to put in place,” Ms Peake said.

“I have been really lucky to work with some of the best people in the industry... both internally and externally to the business.”

Reflecting on her career, Ms Peake said she was particularly proud of how grain growers had continued to innovate, how CBH’s relationship with government had evolved, and the role it played in supporting country communities.

She also singled out the co-operative’s defending of a takeover bid in 2016 as a pivotal moment in her time at CBH.

While packing her bags, Ms Peake said she would still retain her strong connection to WA’s agriculture industry — with family still farming at Wubin and Miling many friends and former colleagues from the Wheatbelt.

And her parting message to growers was simple.

“Just, thank you. It’s been amazing to be a part of this long-standing industry, for a small period of time,” she said.

“I’ve absolutely loved it.”