Academic and Professional Background

• Personal Resume:

  Barry O'Neil is Deputy Director-General, Verification, with the newly formed Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, overseeing the management of MAF's border, animal and food verification operations.
  
  He graduated from Massey University in 1978 with a Bachelor of Veterinary Science. He worked in a private veterinary practice for many years, and as a clinical veterinarian he travelled extensively overseas. In 1991 Barry accepted a four-year diplomatic secondment with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade as Veterinary Counsellor at the New Zealand Embassy in Brussels. In this position he was responsible for New Zealand's veterinary affairs in the European Community, Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
  
  On his return to New Zealand in 1994, he took up the position of Chief Veterinary Officer within MAF. Responsibilities involved determining New Zealand's import standards for animals and their products, surveillance and response capability for exotic animal diseases, animal exports, and animal welfare. More recently, in 2007, Barry led a project to bring MAF Quarantine Service and Biosecurity New Zealand together into a single organisation to provide leadership of the New Zealand Biosecurity system, taking on the role of Deputy Director-General of MAF Biosecurity New Zealand (MAFBNZ). He is also the immediate Past President of the World Organisation for Animal Health.