Fonterra Appoints Ralph Waters to Board

Fonterra Appoints Ralph Waters to Board

One of New Zealand’s most respected businessmen, Ralph Waters, will join the Board of Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited effective immediately, as one of its four appointed directors.

Mr Waters, who steps down from his current role as Chief Executive of Fletcher Building at the end of August, has been the Deloitte/Management magazine Executive of the Year, and New Zealand Herald Business Leader of the Year, and has received a Beacon award for excellence from the NZ Shareholders’ Association.

Fonterra Board Chairman Henry van der Heyden said Mr Waters was held in high esteem by business communities on both sides of the Tasman, and would contribute considerable knowledge and expertise to Fonterra.

“Ralph possesses broad general management and operational experience, a strong international track record, and a good understanding of governance boards in other sectors. He has significant experience in industrial and consumer products, and distribution.

“Since taking the helm at Fletcher Building revenue has grown from about NZ$3 billion in 2001 to an annualised rate of about NZ$6 billion today, and the company’s share price has increased more than four-fold.

“The company’s growth was achieved through a combination of improved operating performance, acquisitions and diversification – including expansion into Australia. The parallels with our current Australian strategy are obvious.

“Ralph currently sits on the Boards of Fletcher Building, and Fisher and Paykel Appliances, and I am delighted to welcome him to the Board of Fonterra,” said Mr van der Heyden.

Before joining Fletcher Building, Mr Waters was the managing director of Australian publicly listed company Email Limited – after having previously held senior management positions within the organisation. Email had operations in Australia, New Zealand, Asia and the United Kingdom. Under his leadership, the diversified company focused on four core businesses: metals; major appliances; security products; and metering.

Earlier in his career, Mr Waters held a number of engineering and managerial positions with Carrier Airconditioning Pty Ltd, an Australian member company of the global United Technologies Corporation.

Mr Waters is married with three children.

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