AHB/NAIT merger

The independent directors will be Jeff Grant, Keith Sutton, Ted Coats, Lesley Campbell and Michael Spaans. Andrew Colema, MPI, will be the government appointee. A chairman has yet to be appointed.

The directors were selected by a Stakeholders' Council of government and industry representatives who are funders and partners in the national bovine tuberculosis (TB) control programme and National Animal Identification and Tracing (NAIT) scheme.

Chair of the Stakeholders' Council, Anders Crofoot, said the role of the directors-designate would be to oversee the development of the new organisation's structure and constitution, as well as the transition to a new entity responsible for both the TBfree New Zealand programme and the NAIT scheme.

"The Stakeholders' Council has taken care to reach a balance between current directors who have knowledge of the existing TB programme and NAIT scheme, along with those who will bring a fresh perspective to the new entity," said Crofoot.

The plan is for the initial work to be completed in the next few months and for the new organisation to be in place by 1 July 2013 at the latest.

"The existing boards of both NAIT and the AHB will continue to operate in the interim to ensure that the two organisations, which are performing well, can continue to focus on their day-to-day business without any unnecessary distractions," said Crofoot.