Australian Wool Innovation’s (AWI) Board Nomination Committee (BNC) has presented its independent, non-binding recommendations to shareholders, naming four director candidates it believes have the optimal skills and experience to serve on the board of the company.
The recommendations, which shareholders are not obliged to follow, were made after the BNC met on 25 September to confirm the eligibility of candidates for the three board director positions to be decided at AWI’s Annual General Meeting on 22 November.
The BNC is confident that the Nominees recommended, individually and collectively, will provide the appropriate and necessary balance of skills required by the AWI board. The BNC also considers the nominations will deliver to the board a diverse composition of experience and outlook to enable the company to fulfil its responsibilities to shareholders and stakeholders and deliver the outcomes of the 2021 Strategic Plan.
Following interviews with the eight candidates, the independent BNC recommended the following four candidates for shareholders’ consideration listed in alphabetical order.
- New candidate Mr Noel Henderson
- New candidate Dr Michelle Humphries
- Existing AWI director Mr Wal Merriman
- Existing AWI director Mr David Webster
AWI shareholders will be entitled to vote for any of the eight director candidates who are standing for election to the board at the AGM. The three candidates with the most votes from shareholders, in person and by proxy, will be elected to the three vacant positions.
The BNC – comprised of independent chair Dr Mary Corbett, independent industry representative Mr Simon Cameron, Managing Partner from international executive recruitment firm Heidrick and Struggles Sydney Mr Guy Farrow and AWI directors Dr Meredith Sheil and Mr James Morgan – is confident the candidates recommended, individually and collectively, provide the appropriate and necessary balance of skills required by the AWI board.
The independent and expanded composition of the BNC for this year’s round of AWI board nominations was shaped by recommendation 1.12.3 in the Ernst & Young 2018 Review of Performance (ROP), which outlined the opportunity to enhance the governance of the process.
The BNC’s recommendations will be provided with the Notice of Meeting, which will be sent to AWI shareholders from October 21 ahead of the company’s AGM.
As part of AWI’s democratic process, all shareholders will have the opportunity to vote at the company’s AGM – either in person or by proxy – on who they want to represent them on their company’s board. This democratic process provides all AWI shareholders the right to have their say and is the envy of other agricultural industries.
The role of all AWI directors is to represent their shareholders – the woolgrowers of Australia – and their interests. Decisions are taken on how and where to invest growers’ funds in research, development and marketing, with an objective of increasing the long-term profitability of wool growing for Australian woolgrowers.
About AWI’s 2019 AGM
AWI will hold its 2019 Annual General Meeting at 10 am on Friday 22 November 2019 at Amora Hotel Jamison Whiteley Ballroom, 11 Jamison Street, Sydney NSW.
More details related to the election of Directors, together with the Nomination Form, Consent to Nomination Form and AWI’s Rules and Procedures governing the election of Directors are available from AWI’s website at .
