Nominations open for Fonterra elections

Elections are being held for two farmer-elected directors for Fonterra’s board, 13 members of the Fonterra Shareholders Council, two members of the directors’ remuneration committee and one trustee of the Fonterra farmer custodian trust.

As a result of the recent changes to Fonterra’s governance and representation, the director elections will include two nomination options.

The independent nomination process will be run first with the selected candidates announced by the returning officer on Friday, 4 November 2016.

Self-nominations, where farmers can put themselves forward as a candidate for the board outside the independent nomination process, will follow with the nomination period running from Friday, 4 November 2016 to Thursday, 10 November 2016.

The returning officer will confirm all farmer director election candidates on 10 November 2016.

The new processes for the election of farmer-elected directors involve the appointment of an independent selection panel and a nominations committee.

Once the panel and the nominations committee are appointed, the farmer-elected directors who are retiring by rotation will advise the nominations committee of their intentions to either re-stand or retire, and any necessary announcements will then be made.

For the directors’ remuneration committee, Scott Montgomerie and Gerard Wolvers are retiring by rotation. Both are eligible for re-election.

In accordance with the Fonterra farmer custodian trust deed, trustee Paul Todd will retire and is eligible for re-election.

In accordance with the by-laws of the shareholders’ council there are elections in 13 wards as follows.

2016 Shareholders Council Elections:

Ward 2 Central Northland

Ward 21 Southern Taranaki

Ward 6 Hamilton

Ward 24 Southern Manawatu

Ward 8 Matamata

Ward 27 North Canterbury

Ward 9 Western Bay of Plenty

Ward 28 Rakaia

Ward 12 South Waikato

Ward 30 South Canterbury

Ward 15 Taupo

Ward 33 Northern Southland

Ward 18 Coastal Taranaki

Councillors in Ward 2 Central Northland, Ward 8 Matamata, Ward 9 Western Bay of Plenty, Ward 12 South Waikato, Ward 15 Taupo, Ward 21 Southern Taranaki, Ward 24 Southern Manawatu, Ward 28 Rakaia, and Ward 30 South Canterbury have advised the returning officer of their intention to retire resulting in vacancies in these wards.

Candidates must satisfy eligibility requirements in order to be elected, and further procedural requirements are specified in the election rules.

Nomination papers and candidate handbooks will be available by phoning the election helpline on free phone 0800 666 034 or emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Applications for the independent nomination process and nominations for the shareholders’ council, the directors’ remuneration committee, and the Fonterra Farmer Custodian Trustee elections must be received by the returning officer, Warwick Lampp of electionz.com, by 12 noon on Tuesday, 25 October 2016.