Friday, 18 August 2017 10:37

FMG board revamp

Written by 
Greg Gent has stepped down from the FMG board after serving 12 years. Greg Gent has stepped down from the FMG board after serving 12 years.

Three agribusiness leaders have been elected to the board of rural insurer FMG.

Geoff Copstick, Murray Taggart and Steve Allen were elected by FMG members at its annual meeting in Hanmer Springs this week.

Copstick was chief financial officer of Gallagher Group in Hamilton for nine years. He is now on Gallagher’s board and chair of its audit and risk committee. Copstick also serves as an independent advisor to Northland Regional Council on finance, audit and economic development issues.

Taggart, a sheep, beef and arable crops farmer is chairman of Alliance Group and a director of Ballance Agri-Nutrients.

Allen is chairman of Tatua Dairy and a member of the Waikato Dairy Leaders Group.

There were three vacancies on the board; two long-term members - Greg Gent and Graeme Milne retired and the board was expanded by another member.

Board chairman Tony Cleland, who also retired by rotation and was re-elected, says attracting the three new directors is “a significant endorsement on where we’re at as a business”. “Their inclusion will add to the diverse combination of agricultural knowledge and business acumen already within the board and position us well to support the mutual’s continued growth aspirations.”

The decision to increase the board from seven to eight was in recognition of the number and high calibre of candidates that were nominated for consideration and the fact that Marise James will be retiring after 16 years on the Board in 2018. This will ensure there is a strong succession plan for the board.

“With three new additions, two exceptionally talented rural governors in Greg Gent and Graeme Milne are retiring after serving FMG for the last 12 years. They’ve played an important part in helping reposition FMG and in the progress we’ve made over recent years. A special thanks to Greg for chairing the FMG board so ably for the last 10 years,” says Cleland.

FMG’s chief executive Chris Black also acknowledged their contribution.

“Both are passionate advocates of the Mutual and have served it extremely well for 12 years. In addition, I’ve had the privilege of working alongside Greg in his capacity as chairman, which has been a real career highlight for me personally.

“The FMG executive leadership team is looking forward to working alongside the newly elected member directors. All three have had impressive careers to date and in addition, believe in the core purpose and value of the mutual model and being there for members and clients when it counts,” says Black.

FMG received 21 expressions of interest to join the board. In accordance with FMG’s director appointment & re-appointment policy, the board worked with an external independent consultant, Caldwell & Partners, to assess the member candidates against a specified set of criteria. This included governance experience, connectedness to the rural sector, affinity with the mutual/cooperative model and commercial acumen.

More like this

Rural insurer pays out $228m

Rural insurer FMG has paid out $228 million to communities impacted by two major weather-related events - Cyclone Gabrielle and the Auckland Anniversary Weekend floods.

Featured

Sheep drench resistance costly

Analysis by Dunedin-based Techion New Zealand shows the cost of undetected drench resistance in sheep has exploded to an estimated $98 million a year.

Dairy sheep and goat turmoil

Dairy sheep and goat farmers are being told to reduce milk supply as processors face a slump in global demand for their products.

Hurry up and slow down!

OPINION: We have good friends from way back who had lived in one of our major cities for many years.

National

Knowing bugs means fewer drugs

A mastitis management company claims to deliver the fastest and most accurate mastitis testing available at scale for New Zealand…

Machinery & Products

AGTEK and ARGO part ways

After 12 years of representing the Landini and McCormick brands in New Zealand, Bay of Plenty-based AGTEK and the brands’…

100 years of Farmall Tractors

Returning after an enforced break, the Wheat and Wheels Rally will take place on the Lauriston -Barhill Road, North-East of…

JD unveils its latest beast

John Deere has unveiled its most powerful tractor ever, with the launch of the all new 9RX Series Tractor line-up…

Biggest Quadtrac coming to NZ!

In the biggest announcement that Case IH Australia/New Zealand has made around its tractor range, its biggest tractor is about…

» Latest Print Issues Online

The Hound

Why?

OPINION: A mate of yours truly wants to know why the beef schedule differential is now more than 45-50 cents…

Fat to cut

OPINION: Your canine crusader understands that MPI were recently in front of the Parliamentary Primary Sector Select Committee for an…

» Connect with Rural News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter