One director position is unfilled because incumbent Ashley Waugh, Maori farming leader Jamie Tuuta and multi-farm Canterbury candidate John Nicholls did not reach the required 50% approval of votes cast.
Waugh’s failure to reach the threshold is another aspect of the protest vote and the mood for change among farmer-shareholders after Fonterra’s worst year in financial results and setbacks.
It is a distinct possibility five strong candidates spread the voting so 50% was harder to get.
Voters were allowed only three approvals but up to five disapprovals. The numbers who voted and the approval percentages have not been released.
Fonterra said it has not decided when to hold another election to fill the vacant seat.
Electoral officer Warwick Lampp said the rules stipulate a second election must take place. Fonterra can appoint an interim director but not one of the three unsuccessful candidates.
Guiney’s re-election is a vindication for the outspoken director (2014-2017) who was not nominated by the independent selection panel last year at the end of her first term and was not eligible to self-nominate then but did so this year.
She has become the first candidate to successfully self-nominate under three-year-old rules that provide two routes for nomination.
Guiney has criticised several aspects of Fonterra policy and execution since she was last on the board, especially the Beingmate China partnership and the loss of shareholders’ equity.
She said her history with the board put her in a much stronger position to be effective, not necessarily popular.
After the results were declared she would not go into detail about the changes she would be seeking for Fonterra but said she made her views very clear to farmers during the campaign.
The trust placed in her by the voters is humbling and she will take her responsibilities very seriously.
With her husband Keiran, Guiney began dairy farming in 2002 and they now have five South Canterbury farms supplying over a million kilograms of milksolids to Fonterra.
Guiney said she is thrilled by the person she was elected alongside, Peter McBride.
McBride has announced he will retire from his five-year chairmanship of Zespri in February and step down as a director after first being elected in 2002.
The success of Zespri as a worldwide trader and the holder of intellectual property for kiwifruit on behalf of growers has been a drawcard for Fonterra voters.
He is also chief executive of Trinity Lands, the charitable primary sector company with 12,500 cows on 19 South Waikato farms producing 6.3m kilos of milksolids annually.
He is a shareholder and director in a family capacity of Crocodile Farms at Tokoroa, with 950 cows producing 540,000kg.
“I have a good understanding of the strategy and key performance measures that are required for effective marketing and innovation,” he said in his position statement.
Towards the end of his governance roles in the kiwifruit industry McBride said he has the experience, credibility, energy and personal commitment to make a significant contribution to Fonterra.
“I have a strategic and global mindset, very focused on performance and have no interest in petty politics or industry tribalism,” he said.
