Heavyweights to assess Fonterra director candidates this year

This year's Fonterra director elections have kicked off.

Election nominations for two spots on Fonterra board of directors have opened with a high-powered independent panel named to assess candidates.

Rob Campbell, chairman of Skycity Entertainment, Summerset, Tourism Holdings and WEL Networks, Joan Withers, chairman of Mercury and the Warehouse Group, and Tony Carter, AirNZ and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare chairman, will take the measure of aspiring directors who choose to be assessed.

Fonterra shareholders can also seek election through a "non-assessment" process outside the panel's scrutiny.

Candidates must be farmer-shareholders of Fonterra.

Campbell is the choice of shareholder advocate, the Fonterra Shareholders' Council, for the independent panel, while Withers was the Fonterra board's pick. Carter, who was last year's council appointee to the panel, was named panel chairman by Withers and Campbell, said council chairman Duncan Coull.

Two directors, Donna Smit and Andy Macfarlane, retire by rotation this year. Both have confirmed they are standing for re-election.

Candidates for both election processes will be named on September 30.

The directors' election will be held using "first past the post" system via postal and online voting.

Fonterra has seven farmer-shareholder directors and four independent governors appointed by the board.