Dairy Australia has announced an additional board nominee will stand for election at the 2019 Annual General Meeting, following the closure of nominations on August 30. Mark Neal, who is a trained agricultural economist and has worked in farm profitability analysis and farm systems economic modelling and design, is standing for election for the first time.
He currently works as a Dairy Systems Specialist at DairyNZ. His nomination has been supported by signatures from at least 100 Group A members of Dairy Australia, which is an alternative path to election as a director under Dairy Australia’s constitution outside of the board selection committee nomination process. There are three board vacancies this year for directors to fill finance and governance, milk producer and research and development positions.
The board has endorsed three candidates for these positions, with support from an independent executive search firm:
Josephine Rozman has been nominated for the finance and governance position.
Jeff Odgers (chair of Dairy Australia and standing for re-election) has been nominated for the milk producer position.
Professor Paul Wood (standing for re-election) has been nominated for the research and development position. Following Mr Neal’s nomination, the board selection committee has determined, based on his skills and experience, that he will stand for the research and development position, which Prof Wood is also standing for. To be successful, each nominee will require more than 50 per cent of the votes cast at the AGM in November.
