CBH announces board candidates for member director elections

CBH Group has announced the first round of board candidates for its January member director elections, with three candidates set to stand for re-election. The bulk grain handler announced on Monday its first ever Candidate Assessment Panel (CAP) process had been completed for the 2022 elections. Mukinbudin farmer Jeff Seaby will seek re-election as a District 2 director, with Kevin Fuchsbichler (Bruce Rock) and Helen Woodhams (Kojonup) seeking re-election for District 3 and 4 respectively. Also throwing his hat in the ring for District 2 is Northam Shire president Chris Antonio, with Barry West (Kulin), Dee Ridgway (Beverley) and Tamara Alexander (Narrogin) announced as District 3 candidates. Three director positions are open for nomination: one in each of Districts 2, 3 and 4. The CAP process is among several initiatives implemented after the 2020 Governance Review which enable CBH to pursue the highest standards of governance. The CAP is a three-person, majority independent panel comprising the CBH chair and two external panel members. The inaugural panel included independent members in the field of governance, Terry Agnew and Suzanne Ardagh, and CBH Board representative Simon Stead. Mr Stead said the CAP process was a way of determining whether candidates had the “desired skills and attributes” for the CBH board. “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,” he said. “The CAP will prepare a separate CAP assessment report for each District that will include a rating and assessment comments for each CAP candidate in that District. “The relevant report for each District will be provided in the voting materials that will be posted to members in early January 2022.” The CAP process is only mandatory for incumbent directors, however CBH has encouraged all member director election candidates to participate. Nominations opened on Monday for candidates who wish to nominate outside of the CAP process. Eligible candidates have until January 4 to lodge their nomination, after which grower members have until February 14 to vote. Candidates need not have their main growing interests in the district in which they intend to nominate for election, a CBH spokesperson said. The elections will be carried out by the Western Australian Electoral Commission.