CO-OPERATIVE NEWS
Farmlands welcomes new Director The returning Warren Parker was joined by newcomer Peter Ellis on the Farmlands Board of Directors, following last year’s North Island Director Election. Both Warren and Peter were introduced to shareholders when the results were announced at November’s Annual General Meeting. While Peter is a newcomer to the Board, he is certainly no stranger to our co-operative. Peter was previously Chief Executive of North Island-based Farmlands Trading Society for 6 years, up until the merger with South Island-based CRT in 2013.
After receiving the highest number of votes in the 2020 Shareholder Director Elections, Peter will join the Board for a 3-year term. “It was great to be able to engage with shareholders over the course of the election,” he says. Since leaving Farmlands in 2013, Peter has held governance roles with Cooperative Bank, Euro Corp, Freshmax and Veterinary Enterprise Group. For Peter, the opportunity to see how the co-operative had progressed since his tenure as CEO was an exciting one. “I’m looking forward to quietly getting my feet under the desk and supporting the co-operative’s Board,” Peter says. “Getting to know my fellow Board members is the priority within the upcoming year.” Warren Parker received the second highest number of votes and will re-join the Board for a 2-year term. Warren was standing for re-election after retiring by rotation. The 2020 Director Election was only open to North Island shareholders as the only candidate in the South Island, Farmlands Chairman Rob Hewett, was re-elected unopposed. The second vacancy in the North Island resulted from the retirement of the Board’s longest serving Director, Nikki DaviesColley, who did not seek re-election.
| Returning Director Warren Parker.
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Farmlands has six Shareholder Directors — three from each island, in addition to three Independent Directors.
| Newly appointed Director Peter Ellis.
The different tenures resulting from this year’s Director Election is the final step in implementing changes to the Farmlands Board structure, which has reduced from ten Directors to nine. From this year, one elected Director in each Island will retire by rotation annually.
Farmlands Co-operative Society Limited | © February 2021. All rights reserved.
THE FARMLANDER | 17
