Waikato's John Wilson has been named chairman elect for dairy cooperative Fonterra replacing outgoing head Sir Henry van der Heyden.
The appointment was announced Thursday following a board vote on the executive management.
Wilson, a previous Chairman of the Co-operatives Shareholder's Council will take over duties in December when van der Heyden stands down.
In announcing the appointment, van der Heyden said Wilson would be an asset to the co-operative given his "lengthy experience in the dairy industry.''
“Over the past two years the Board has been working through a considered and disciplined process to appoint a Chairman Elect and ensure the succession plan we have is in the best interest of the Co-operative,” says Sir Henry.
“John and I will work together over the next few months to assist with a smooth transition to provide continuity for the Co-operative.”
Wilson, a board member since 2003., lives on his family dairy farm near Te Awamutu and also manages a dairy farming business in South Canterbury.
He is the Chairman of South Auckland Independent Testing Society Ltd and a director of Turner & Growers Ltd.
In separate elections, Ian Brown was voted Chairman of the Shareholders’ Council and Philip Palmer as the Deputy Chair of Council.
11 Comments
One more step towards demutualisation, and another kick in the guts for the cooperative dairy industry. Has anyone ever read Wilsons Nuffield Scholarship report? http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU9909/S00152/nuffield-farming-scholarships-awarded.htm. I can't find it on the Nuffield website. I don't know about you ITYS, but it seems consistently orhestrated to me. Any allusions to honoring cooperative legacy and principles given by Henry and lackies is pure bs. Demutualisation has been the agenda since before Fonterra was formed. Good on ya Henry and John, take everything for yourselves, make sure you don't leave any crumbs for future generations.
its not there:
http://www.nuffield.org.nz/page7.html
http://www.nuffield.org.nz/page11.html
may be its somewhere else...
John Wilson will study alternative farmer co-operative structures and their approaches to performance measurement. He seeks answers to the questions of "how the shareholders of a single NZ mega co-operative measure its performance without a true market price for milk?" and "how do these 'new generation' co-operatives guarantee to shareholders the required transparency and accountability in their financial performance?"
Lets hope he found the value driver tree, instead of wacking at it like Henry seemd to....
don't start us on "accountability"...
Do you know what is a 'new generation cooperative' Henry_Tull? It's interesting that the only cooperative expert Henry and co got to rubber stamp TAF was Michael Cooke who was a proponent of the term 'new generation cooperative http://web.missouri.edu/~cookml/publicat.htm. It may or may not be a legitimate solution to actual or percieved problems with cooperative evolution, but I wonder how many Fonterra shareholders understand the significance. Pity we didn't have a debate on it. I suspect it's more about people in the know pushing there own barrows more than ensuring the continuance of a robust and integral cooperative structure for the benefit of future farming generations.
We think a "new generation cooperative" is not a cooperative, it is just something else.
The NGC is more a cooperative with sheets bolted on, or sliced through what we had.
Some things don't need/can't take evolution. For example double entry book keeping, loan finance, where innovation/evolution has been confused with say criminal activity. Somethings can only innovate to 100%.
Agreed but rather than barrows, think strips being torn off, or boots being filled..
And I thought CO's comment could not be bettered. How wrong I was.
As a shareholder, how could it be that Henry and John take 'everything for themselves' but leave you as a (presumed) shareholder with nothing?
Demutualisation is not on the agenda - it was proposed in 2009 for the one and only time and promptly sent back. TAF is nothing to do with demutualisation.
Perhaps it is time to sell up, supply Synlait and let all your troubles go away...
Wasn't talking about me ITYS, I was talking about Fonterra remaining a cooperative, and about future generations. You think that by introducing trading dimensions into the so called cooperative, Henry and John are looking after the coooperative for the benefit of future generations, like those before did for them. Well mate I think that is rubbish, they're fleecing the cooperative for what they can get.
What are your thoughts on votes as a proportion of share backed production ITYS? What I'm talking about is a large scale suppliers 134 votes to the equvalent 1 vote of an 'average' shareholder (No. of shares/shareholders).
Is this consistent with cooperative principles. Maybe you're right, I better sell up before Fonterra morphs into Synlait.
Keep up the good work ITYS, the only worthy contributer to interest.co
As you go through life you deal with all sorts. Some business deals you remember more than others. For good and bad reasons. John Wilson, yes I remember him vividly. His father was a good bugger. Not so much the lad. I do hope as he has aged he got more like his dad.
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