Two New Directors To Join Fonterra Board

Two New Directors To Join Fonterra Board

Fonterra shareholders have elected two new farmer-elected directors and returned one sitting director to the Fonterra board, following a postal ballot declared today.

Shareholders' Council Chairman Tony O'Boyle said the three successful candidates were sitting director Harry Bayliss and new directors John Wilson, from Te Awamutu, and Stuart Nattrass, from Christchurch.

Mr Bayliss, of Manaia, Taranaki, has been on the board since Fonterra's inception and was one of three incumbent directors required to retire by rotation. All three - Mr Bayliss, Richard Booth and Marise James sought re-election, with Mr Booth and Mrs James being unsuccessful.

John Wilson and Stuart Nattrass will join the 13-member Fonterra board on June 1.

Mr O'Boyle said 49% of Fonterra shareholders voted in the election when voting closed at noon on Friday (May 23), representing 56% of milksolids supplied to the company. This is the same turnout as last year.

Eleven candidates had stood for election.

Fonterra Chairman Henry van der Heyden said he respected the shareholders' decision to change the make-up of the board. The election outcome provided a balance of stability and new blood.

"I welcome Harry Bayliss' re-election. He has 15 years of valuable governance experience in this industry, both as a director of Fonterra and its legacy companies the New Zealand Dairy Board and Kiwi Co-operative Dairies.

"I also welcome John and Stuart to the board and look forward to working with them to achieve Fonterra's vision To Lead in Dairy," Mr van der Heyden said.

"John is well known and respected in the dairy industry, having held leadership positions as inaugural chairman of both the Fonterra and New Zealand Dairy Group Shareholders' Councils. He is also a member of the Milk Pricing Working Group looking at the company's capital structure."

He said Mr Nattrass was a new face in the industry.

"Stuart's business and banking expertise and his farming interests will provide a welcome set of skills to the board."

Mr van der Heyden thanked the unsuccessful incumbent directors, Mr Booth and Mrs James, acknowledging their contribution to Fonterra and the dairy industry over many years.

Mr O'Boyle also congratulated the successful candidates.

"I am sure they will make a valuable contribution to the board and the Council will be looking forward to meeting and working with them."

The election results (in order of preference from '1' to '11'): * Harry Bayliss * John Wilson * Stuart Nattrass * Malcolm Bailey * Richard Booth * Graeme Edwards * Marise James * Hilary Webber * Colin Holmes * Kingi Smiler * Maurice Hardie

At the same time an election was held in Ward 17 of the Shareholders' Council. Three candidates had stood for two vacant positions. The successful candidates were David Pearce and David Hopkins, while Philip Nixon was unsuccessful.

Full results of the elections will be available on http://www.fencepost.com from tomorrow and will be published in the June issue of Farmlink.

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