U.S. Team Bios

David Pietsch

MLA Regional Manager
North America
Meat & Livestock Australia

David was raised on a cattle and sheep ranch in the state of Queensland in Australia, where his father and brother still own and operate the fourth-generation family farm. It is this strong family connection that leads David to work in a number of roles as a policy and communications advocate for the thousands of family cattle and sheep ranchers in his home state.

In 2004, David joined Meat & Livestock Australia and progressed through a number of media, communications and stakeholder management roles before being promoted to General Manager of Communications in 2009. As a member of the MLA Executive Team, David led a team of 24 staff in raising awareness of research and development opportunities for livestock producers, and developing strategies to grow community awareness of the passion that Australian sheep and cattle ranchers have for producing safe, high-quality and sustainably raised beef, lamb and goat.

In 2013, David took on the role of MLA Regional Manager – North America and moved his young family to Washington, D.C., where he works with a small and committed team to develop and deliver marketing programs for Australian Beef, Lamb and Goat, and work with Australian and U.S. industries and governments on market access issues.

Elissa Garling

Business Development Manager - Foodservice
North America
Meat & Livestock Australia

Elissa Garling graduated from the University of Sydney in 2006 with a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Economics. While in school, she spent time working on a Wagyu/Angus cattle property near the east coast region of Australia, and held front-of-house service and supervisory roles in several food and beverage establishments.

Elissa started with Meat and Livestock Australia at the beginning of 2007 as a Red Meat Market Analyst in the International Markets and Economic Services Division. Her role involved coordinating such projects as the MLA annual Lamb Survey.

In September 2007, Elissa was promoted to Program Coordinator for the MLA Risk Management Program. She worked on business development strategies for the MLA/SFE Cattle Futures contract, and industry education programs to broaden understanding and uptake of price risk management tools within the Australian Red Meat and Livestock sector.

While still working on the Risk Management program, Elissa also took up the role of MLA’s Senior North American Market Analyst and Trade Support in August 2008, involving regular analytical report writing and marketing assistance to the MLA North American team.

In November 2011, Elissa took up the post of Business Development Manager – Foodservice in the MLA U.S. office, where she currently promotes Australian Red Meat to the North American foodservice sector and assists the Regional Manager – North America on market access issues for Australian Red Meat.