‘Shy, retiring’ Wilson reeks of leadership

the label ‘‘Henry’s man’’.

Rumour also had it that big- scale farmer and farmer- director Colin Armer fancied his chances. That Armer quit the board days after Wilson’s election was announced seems to nail the speculation.

Van der Heyden laughed loudly at the suggestion Wilson is some sort of facsimile of him. ‘‘John’s an independent person.’’

Wilson didn’t bother to dignify it with a response.

Sure, there are flashes of van der Heyden in his choice of words when talking about Fonterra but Wilson reeks of leadership material.

There’s a solidity and an intensity about him that suggests he will drive Fonterra strongly. By his own admission he likes to get things done. And he says it’s ‘‘critical we look out at the world again. We have to externalise again’’.

‘‘ We’ve spent the last three years looking at our bellies,’’ he says of the tortuous TAF, though for a cooperative it was a necessary debate, in his book.

As Wilson relaxes into the interview, a bit of selfdeprecation and humour shows through.

He can’t possibly have a strong personality, he says.

‘‘I have four daughters. I get pushed around constantly. I’m bottom of the pecking order.

‘‘I’m a shy retiring sort of bloke. I am sure farmers will come to their own view about whether I have the right leadership style.’’

As for the “very bright” charge, Wilson responds that ‘‘ Henry has asked me to do stuff”.

‘‘The milk price thing – he threw that at me and that was quite a chunky piece of work.’’

That ‘‘ milk price thing’’ was formulating Fonterra’s milk pricing – an area of intense interest to farmers, for whom it is their business lifeblood; to the government, which legislates Fonterra; to the Commerce Commission, which makes sure Fonterra doesn’t throw its huge market weight around; to processing competitors, who have to buy its milk; and to the public.

The only other comment Wilson will make on salutes to his cerebral energy is that he thinks he has “a pretty strategic mind”.

Part of the reason the interview is so personal is that Wilson, from the get- go, says he won’t discuss Fonterra issues or strategy.

He still has to be reelected – it’s his turn to contest his board seat this year – and van der Heyden is the chairman until the annual meeting in November.

The two are working together on the transition, and it’s an important process for Wilson.

‘‘ I’m not someone who just charges out there.

‘‘ Over the next little period it’s all about the transition, but going forward I think you will find me quite clear on what is important to Fonterra,’’ he says in a very leaderly kind of way.

Wilson makes a bit of a big deal about the need to be re-elected first but it’s a pretty safe bet.

Yes, there is still disturbance in the force over TAF, of which he is a prominent co-architect.

With its inherent invitation to the public to invest in dividend- carrying but non-voting units of farmerowned Fonterra shares, TAF is considered by a vocal bloc of resentful farmers to be a clear and present danger to future 100 per cent farmer ownership and control of the company.

Fairfax NZ