Fonterra election: Shareholders return John Wilson, but Blue Read voted off board

NZ Herald

23 Nov, 2015 03:16 AM3 mins to read

Fonterra chairman John Wilson. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Fonterra chairman John Wilson, who had retired by rotation from the co-operative's board, has retained his seat after a shareholder election, but director Blue Read - has been voted off.

Shareholders also re-elected Nicola Shadbolt to the board.

Wilson and Shadbolt will be joined by a new director Ashley Waugh, who lives and farms at Pokuru, near Te Awamutu.

Waugh is an experienced company director and dairy company executive, having previously worked for the New Zealand Dairy Board in a number of roles since 1991, and latterly as chief executive of National Foods in Australia.

He is also chairman of Moa Group, and is a director of Seeka Kiwifruit Industries and The Heat Group in Australia. Other candidates for the board, Greg Maughan and Murray Beach, were unsuccessful.

Shareholder's Council chairman Duncan Coull said there had been a record turnout, with shareholders representing 65 per cent of farms, or 73 per cent of milksolids, casting their votes.

"This is an outstanding result for our co-op," he said in a statement.

Newly elected Shareholders' Councillors Andrew Hardie (Hawke's Bay) and Sue Brown (Tasman/Marlborough) will join incumbents Wilson James (Eastern Bay of Plenty) and Kevin Turnbull (Northern Taranaki) on the council.

John Wilson

John Wilson was elected a director on the Fonterra Board in 2003 and became chairman in 2012. He is chairman of the People, Culture and Safety Committee and served as the inaugural chairman of the Fonterra Shareholders' Council. He is director of Turners & Growers Limited and is a chartered member of the Institute of Directors in New Zealand. Wilson lives on his dairy farm near Te Awamutu and jointly owns a dairy farming business based near Geraldine, South Canterbury.

Blue Read

Blue Read was elected to the Board in 2012 and sits on the Co-operative Relations Committee. He led a Water Policy Project Team reporting through to the Co-operative Relations Committee. Read was the chairman of the Fonterra Shareholders' Council from 2007 to 2010, having been a Shareholders' councillor since 2001 and deputy chairman from 2003 to 2007. Read has interests in two dairy equity partnerships in the lower Waikato, and he lives and farms near Urenui in Northern Taranaki.

Nicola Shadbolt

Nicola Shadbolt was elected to the Fonterra Board in 2009 and serves on the Audit and Finance Committee. Shadbolt is a Professor of Farm and Agribusiness Management at Massey University, director of the Centre of Excellence in Farm Business Management, a director of the International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, and represents New Zealand in the International Farm Comparison Network in Dairying. Shadbolt and her husband live in the Pohangina Valley in the Manawatu, which is the base for the five farming and forestry equity partnerships they run, which include two dairy farms.

Three farmers aspire to be Fonterra directors for the first time.

Ashley Waugh

Ashley Waugh is a Te Awamutu dairy farmer. Waugh has ten years experience working for the New Zealand Dairy Board. From 1992 to 2001 he was regional chief executive for the New Zealand Dairy Board businesses across Australia, South Africa and the Pacific. Waugh spent eight years working for National Foods in Australia, including four years as the chief executive.