Fonterra has few women on board
Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner Jackie Blue has given Fonterra a serve for having so few women on its board.
But Federated Farmers vicepresident Andrew Hoggard said he couldn’t care if board members were transgender or of any race or colour, as long as they advanced the interests of Fonterra and farmer/shareholders.
Fairlie dairy farmer and board member Leonie Guiney has been not selected to stand as a candidate for a second term, reducing women numbers on the 11-person board to Professor Nicola Shadbolt and Donna Smit.
Blue said it was ‘‘particularly disappointing’’ that New Zealand’s largest employer had such a low number of women in governance roles. ‘‘Women in New Zealand play a vital role in the dairy industry and have done so for many years. However, the low number of women on the board of directors for Fonterra would suggest otherwise,’’ she said.
In an unusual move, Guiney went public after an independent panel decided not to select her as a candidate in the coming elections. ‘‘I think I was a necessary antidote to ‘group think’ on that board; I was a constant reminder of who the co-operative owners are and the supply strength that could come from trusting them more.’’
Hoggard said Guiney was respected for her forthright approach ‘‘but we get wound up about diversity and outside appearances. I just want to see the right people for the job’’.
Fonterra Shareholders’ Council chairman Duncan Coull defended the decision of the independent panel, set up after a review last year. ‘‘The three panellists represent a wide range of diversity, the chair is Dame Alison Paterson who is one of New Zealand’s leading female governors. There’s a great awareness within that panel as to what diversity brings to the board.’’ The panel recommended sitting director John Monaghan, agribusiness leader Andy Macfarlane and Brent Goldsack for three vacant farmer-director seats on the board.