Paul Pora serves as the Managing Director of Highlands Arabicas, Ltd. / New Ginea Traders, LLC. A long-time resident of Mount Hagen, Pora holds a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from the University of Technology in Lae, Morobe Province, PNG as well as masters degrees in plant breeding and crop improvement from the University of Birmingham (UK) and the University of Reading (UK), respectively. A former village coffee grower, plantation manager, and agricultural research scientist, Paul has dedicated his life to tropical agriculture and gourmet coffee production.
Born in the Southern Highlands Province, Paul moved to the Western Highlands Province as a youth. A third-generation coffee farmer and a member of both the Mongai and Jiga tribes, Paul is adept at navigating the complicated waters of New Guinea’s highland culture while still maintaining sound and sustainable business practices. Paul and his wife Elizabeth are the proud parents of three daughters and two sons; they reside in the Mount Hagen area. Paul speaks English, Pidgin, Melpa, and Ibongu fluently.
CO-FOUNDER / CHAIRWOMAN OF THE BOARD
Aarlie Hull is the company’s co-founder and currently serves as the Chairwoman of the Board. A graduate of the University of Washington, Aarlie and her husband, orthopedic surgeon Larry Hull, have years of successful business experience under their belts. Aarlie is well-known and -loved in the specialty coffee industry and has been the driving force behind the firm’s strategic development. Aarlie has also supplied much of the creative efforts behind the company's many marketing and sales campaigns.
Aarlie spends considerable amounts of time each year in Papua New Guinea and most recently was responsible for the recruitment of a first-class, 100% Papua New Guinean management team in PNG. Aarlie developed the company’s innovative Coffee Lands Development Fund, where roasters contribute five cents (US) of every pound of coffee purchased to development projects in the Western Highlands Province. Aarlie has five children and five grandchildren and makes her full-time home in Centralia, Washington, USA.
DIRECTOR OF FINANCE AND SALES
Dean Hull serves as the firm’s director of finance, sales, and development. The youngest son of Larry and Aarlie Hull, Dean spent the immediate years upon graduating from college in El Salvador where he spent many of his days off learning that nation’s coffee industry. Upon returning to the United States, Dean moved to Washington, DC to attend graduate school. Dean still makes his full-time home in Washington, DC and is in charge of all finance-related issues, import-side quality control, general business development, financial hedging, coffee-related machinery procurement, and sales outside of North America for the company. A fluent Spanish-speaker, Dean holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Washington and masters degrees in finance and international development (economics and business development emphasis) from The American University.
ASSISTANT MANAGING DIRECTOR
Joining the firm in 2006 as Assistant Managing Director, Moses Noel was formerly employed by a large mining operation in the PNG highlands, Moses speaks English, Pidgin, and a number of other tribal dialects. A native of the Western Highlands Province but of Chimbu stock, Moses grew up on the grounds of Kudjip Nazarene Hospital, one of the most renowned health facilities in PNG. A promising student from early on, Moses graduated top in his accounting class at the University of Technology in Lae, from which he holds a Bachelor of Arts in accounting. Moses is in charge of all the bookkeeping, accounting, human resources, and finance-related issues for the firm’s PNG operations and was the driving force behind recent upgrades to its accounting system. Moses lives on the Madan Plantation and plans on beginning his MBA studies in the near future.
NORTH AMERICAN SPOT SALES COORDINATOR
Officially joining the firm in 2005, Cole Arendt is in charge of all Canadian and U.S. spot sales for the company and also takes charge of all matters related to ground shipping and logistical concerns within North America. A refugee from the non-profit world, Cole learned the ropes of the specialty coffee industry in record time, instantly excelling in customer care and logistics coordination. A graduate of the University of Manitoba in Canada, Cole is well traveled, and has spent considerable time “on the road” in North America, the Caribbean, and the Middle East; Cole is fluent in English and conversational in French. Married with two daughters, Cole lives on Washington State’s beautiful San Juan Island a stone's throw outside the town of Friday Harbor. Also hooked on the specialty coffee industry, Cole’s wife, Amy, operates High Country Coffee, which supplies the growing legions of home coffee roasters with direct-from-source green coffee from the Madan Plantation and other farms represented by New Guinea Traders, LLC, the company's US-based trading arm.
AGRICULTURAL MANAGER
Pati Kingal serves as agricultural manager for the firm and, like Moses Noel, joined the company in 2006. Pati oversees all the agricultural activities of the company on the field-level. A native of the Mount Hagen area, Pati is a member of the Jiga tribe and speaks English, Melpa, and Pidgin fluently. Formerly employed by the PNG Rural Development Bank as an agricultural appraiser, Pati oversaw the development of scores of small- and medium-scale coffee projects scattered throughout the highland provinces. Pati is a graduate of a major agricultural technical college in the Western Highlands Province and is married with six children.
