Friday, March 29, 2024

Four starters vie for two Fonterra seats

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Fonterra has four strong candidates for two positions as farmer directors, one of which is a vacancy to be left by retiring chair John Monaghan.
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The independently assessed candidates are one-term director Brent Goldsack, seeking re-election, second-time candidate Cathy Quinn, former Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy and Spectrum Group founder and managing director Mike O’Connor.

The four may be joined by others who self-nominate before the full field is known on September 25.

The assessment panel was made up of chair Tony Carter, Joan Withers and Rob Campbell.

They put forward Quinn, Guy and O’Connor for candidacy and will also provide an assessment of Goldsack, who chose to participate although entitled as a director seeking re-election he automatically goes into the ballot.

Candidate statements and biographies, plus the assessments, will be distributed to all Fonterra farmer-shareholders in the voting pack.

Goldsack was first elected in 2017 after more than 20 years as a tax and financial advisor with PwC in Hamilton. He is a director of Rabobank and chair of Waitomo Petroleum. The family owns three Waikato dairy farms totalling 1500 cows and takes an active role in the businesses.

Auckland-based Quinn stepped down last year from chairing MinterEllisonRuddWatts after 30-plus years as a commercial and corporate law partner. She is a director and shareholder of a family dairy farm in Waikato and is a director of Fletcher Building, Tourism Holdings and Rangatira.

Guy is retiring this year from Parliament after 15 years as the National MP in Levin. He is the fourth generation of the family in public service and is managing director of Kereru Farm with 1400 cows that began supplying Levin Dairy Co-op in 1933.

O’Connor and his wife Andrea farm in partnership with former Fonterra director Ian Farrelly and Brett and Karen Sterritt as Spectrum Group with 50 employees and 8200 cows on 2200ha in Waikato and Canterbury, producing more than three million kilograms of milksolids annually. The O’Connors sharemilked for 12 years before purchasing their first farm in 1992 at Te Awamutu, where they still live.

Voting packs will be mailed on October 13 and shareholders can vote by internet or post before November 3, ahead of the annual meeting to be held on November 5.

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