AUSTRALIAN Wool Innovation chairman Wal Merriman is happy with the skills of the AWI board’s current directors, but his board still has to conform with a government-dictated re-election process.
As part of that process, a new nomination committee to assess the skills of new directors was announced this week.
The nomination committee’s three external members will be National Farmer Federation chairman Jock Laurie, Bell Financial Group Ltd executive chairman Colin Bell and Australian Securities Exchange sales and marketing general manager Will Wilson.
Mr Merriman and deputy AWI chairman Roger Fletcher will also be on the committee.
“I don’t think there any skills missing with the current board,” Mr Merriman said this week.
The board had to be appreciated for its “collective skill-set”, he said.
Under a statutory funding agreement with the Federal Government, AWI is required to appoint the nomination committee and have a skills-based board with expertise in various areas. These include corporate governance, wool growing and processing, product promotion and retail marketing, domestic and international market development, research and development adoption and administration, technology, natural resource management, finance and business management.
Four current directors are eligible for re-election this year, but the AWI board could decide to have up to 10 directors. Any individual can still be considered as a candidate for the AWI board by obtaining 100 signatures under the terms of the AWI constitution.
With Chick Olsson resigning this month, the current board has six directors, but Mr Merriman said the number of seats available on the board won’t be known until the size of the new board was decided at its next meeting on June 3.
“If it is seven (directors) it will be three (directors up for re-election) and if it is six (directors) it will two,” he said.
The new board nomination committee will consider the skills of any candidates nominated, including directors seeking re-election, recommending to shareholders those candidates it thinks best ensure that the board has an appropriate balance of skills and experience in the areas specified in the SFA.
Nominations for the 2011 AWI board election must be received by the AWI company secretary, between September 19 and October 7 this year for the AGM to be held in Sydney on November 18 2011.
The amended Rules and the new nomination form and consent to nomination form are available at www.wool.com/agm
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