Perth’s Terry Agnew and Suzanne Ardagh to help scrutinise CBH board candidates’ skills and attributes

The long-serving former boss of insurer RAC and the chairwoman of the West Coast Fever netball team will help scrutinise candidates for board positions on Australia’s biggest co-operative. CBH Group announced today Terry Agnew and Suzanne Ardagh would join CBH board chairman Simon Stead as inaugural members of the co-op’s Candidate Assessment Panel. The initiative aims to help the CBH lift its governance standards, and follows a review last year triggered after a turbulent period on the board and infighting among directors. CBH’s former chairman Wally Newman was accused of using inappropriate language towards a woman. The late Trevor Badger was removed from the board for allegedly breaching confidence. “The Candidate Assessment Panel will assess a candidate’s experience, skills and attributes relevant to the role of a CBH director against the desired skills and attributes sought by the CBH board,” Mr Stead said. A report would be provided to CBH members ahead of voting. The panel would not recommend a preferred candidate or candidates. “This process has been designed to encourage a high calibre of candidates to stand for election and promote merit-based voting by providing members with factual information about the candidates for their consideration when deciding which candidate to vote for,” Mr Stead said. Ms Ardagh has served on national and international boards and is chairwoman of WA’s West Coast Fever, chairwoman of Stanley College, and director of the Cancer Council of WA and Perth Symphony Orchestra. Mr Agnew, who served as RAC’s chief executive for more than two decades until 2019, is a director of HCF, Curtin University, Infrastructure WA, and Edge Employment Solutions. Prospective candidates for the CBH board are encouraged to go through the CAP process, but it is only mandatory for incumbent directors. CBH paid its board members, comprising three independent directors and nine grower directors, $1.365m last year. The highest paid was Mr Stead, who earned $156,000 and $14,800 superannuation.