WOULDN’T BE ANYWHERE ELSE…
Words by
Marita Ramia
Posted
10 January 2025
Category
News
“In two decades, I’ve never had any reason to want to work anywhere else.” - Michael Buster; Chief Financial Officer, Mort & Co. Today Mort & Co celebrated the milestone of its Chief Financial Officer, Michael Buster and General Manager of Feedlots, Scott Braund – both of whom started working for Mort & Co just days apart 20 years ago.
“I was ready to move north,” Scott Braund explains.
“I had finished up at Cargill and was ready for the next thing and Charlie listed a job titled Feedlot Services Manager. It was described as ‘working with various clients, custom feeding’. So, I came up from Wagga and the business was already moving fast and I think I really only did that job for a couple of weeks before we bought Gunnee and became highly focussed on feedlot operations.”
Scott’s role grew quickly and has continued to do so over two decades.
“It’s been ever evolving. There has never, ever been a day when I’ve been bored at Mort.”
Scott attributes the success of the feedlot growth at Mort & Co to the people who have worked alongside him.
“Everyone who has worked here has contributed to what Mort & Co is today. Some of them are still here, and some have left, but the reason I’ve enjoyed this career so much is because I’ve worked with the best. Mort & Co attracts good people.”
Scott Braund
General Manager Feedlots
From left, Melissa Dalziell, Michael Buster, Charlie Mort, Scott Braund and Karen Harris
Staff retention and attraction, Scott says, can be attributed to person at the top.
“Charlie has always respected our views and our decisions. Even when he hasn’t agreed, he’s respected our knowledge and our end call. That gives you the confidence to keep showing up day in day out.”
For Scott and Michael, they’ve only ever had two employers in their careers. One before Mort & Co, and Mort & Co.
Michael Buster was working on the Sunshine Coast as an accountant, and he and his wife, Caroline, had their first child and were looking to get back to the Darling Downs, closer to friends and family.
"As fate would have it, a newsagency on the coast still stocked the Toowoomba Chronicle, so one Saturday morning I bought a copy and sat on the beach with it looking for accounting jobs back in Toowoomba. The first, and only one I saw was at Mort & Co."
Michael knew nothing about cattle but had grown up on a cotton farm and had a strong Ag background, so he applied, and got the job.
"I quickly found that Mort & Co had great values that were established from the top down through Charlie. He was a very exciting person to work for. It was always about growth - but through every process people were always valued, no matter what their position was."
Michael Buster
Chief Financial Officer
Michael and Scott started when Mort & Co had less than 20 staff on the books.
Today there is over 300.
"Since my first day, I've never had a reason to leave. I've had opportunities, challenges and great people to learn and grow with."
Michael and Scott were photographed today standing alongside those who were there on their first day and who are also still employed by Mort & Co.
Melissa Dalziell started 23 years ago, while Karen Harris started alongside Charlie Mort in 1997.
