Telecom Board Membership Change

Telecom Board Membership Change

Telecom today announced the resignation of director John King and the appointment of Wayne Boyd to its Board.

Mr Boyd will be joining the Board from 1 July and Mr King will retire on 30 September, Telecom Chairman Roderick Deane said today.

“We are delighted to be welcoming Wayne on board, particularly as we lose the experience and dedication that John King has brought to the Board.

“John has been on the Board since September 1990 and has made an enormous contribution to Telecom throughout its entire life as a public company.

“The Board has benefited for many years from John’s judgment and business knowledge and we’ll always be grateful to him,” Dr Deane said.

Mr Boyd currently chairs companies including Freightways, Auckland International Airport and Ngai Tahu Holdings. He is a member of a number of other boards including Tru-Test Corporation, the advisory board of Fairfax NZ and the Forsyth Barr Group.

He has served as a director of other groups including Sport & Recreation NZ, the New Zealand Hockey Federation and the NZ Blood Service.

Mr Boyd was also Chairman of the South Island Interim Development Group which was charged with the establishment of Meridian Energy.

The Board has determined that Mr Boyd will be an independent director as defined in the Telecom Board Charter and NZX Listing Rules.

Dr Deane also said that Telecom was changing its policy on directors’ retirement allowances.

Dr Deane said that with the resignation of Mr King and the appointment of a new director, the Board had reconsidered its policy of directors’ retirement allowances.

“Following a comprehensive review, we have decided to discontinue the retirement allowance for any new directors appointed to the board. The fees for new directors will be increased by 25% to reflect the absence of any retirement allowance. The incremental amount paid to new directors would be required to be invested in Telecom shares,” Dr Deane said.

“This increase was set after independent verification that the amount of the increase fairly reflected the fact that new directors would not be entitled to a retiring allowance.”

The amount of fees and retirement allowances for existing directors remain unchanged. Existing directors will receive a retirement allowance when they retire from the board, calculated in accordance with the policy that prevailed at the time they were appointed and in accordance with Telecom’s Constitution and the NZX listing rules.

"We expect to be making another appointment to the Board in the near future," Dr Deane said.

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