Fonterra director quits

A director of New Zealand’s biggest company, Fonterra, announced in January that he was leaving the company after just four months.
Mike Smith said that he was quitting the dairy because he was “unhappy with the governance” of Fonterra.
Fellow director Mark Townshend is also considering leaving the firm, according to reports in New Zealand’s Southland Times.
Smith is understood to have been dissatisfied with an inquiry surrounding the alleged illegal export of dairy powders without Dairy Board approval prior to the formation of Fonterra. He was on a Fonterra board sub-committee that directed the inquiry and in December ruled that here had been no improper personal gain.
The Fonterra board said that it would consider Smith’s replacement this month.
Fonterra was formed last October with the merger of the Dairy Group and Kiwi Dairies co-operatives and the regulated exporter Dairy Board.
Also at Fonterra in January, Robert Le Brun was appointed director of corporate strategic initiatives.
Following Smith’s announcement, Fonterra released a statement saying that it wanted to create “a boardroom style that is appropriate for Fonterra as the co-op moves from ‘merger mode’ to ‘fully operational mode’.” Fonterra’s statement went on to say that the company needed to continue to develop to meet its commercial challenges.