CBH board elections: incumbents Jeff Seaby and Helen Woodhams, and newcomer Barry West elected

CBH grower members have given a nod to the co-operative’s current leadership — voting in board incumbents Jeff Seaby and Helen Woodhams for Districts 2 and 4 and replacing retiring director Kevin Fuchsbichler with Shire of Kulin president Barry West in District 3. The co-operative announced the results of its latest grower elections Monday, with CBH chair Simon Stead thanking all eight candidates that put their hands up across the three grower districts for a spot on the 11-person board, which includes nine farmers. Mukinbudin grower Mr Seaby received 120 votes to beat Shire of Northam president Chris Antonio (102 votes) for the second time after both nominated for the 2019 election. He also polled more votes than first-time board hopeful and Nokaning farmer Jules Alvaro (107 votes). Kojonup farmer Ms Woodhams was re-elected to District 4 with 207 votes, ahead of fellow candidate and Shire of Wagin president Philip Blight who received 96 votes. In District 3, Kulin farmer Mr West claimed 161 votes to edge out his counterparts Tamara Alexander (68 votes), of Narrogin, and Dee Ridgway (90 votes), of Beverley. CBH implemented this year two major changes to how the board election process is run in a bid to improve its corporate governance. The first involved the creation of an inaugural Candidate Assess Panel, which was mandatory for incumbents and “strongly encouraged” for new candidates to take part in and designed to work out whether nominees had the “desired skills and attributes” for the board. The Panel was made up of three people, Mr Stead and high-profile Perth corporate leaders Terry Agnew and Suzanne Ardagh, and provided growers with mailed information about how the candidates stacked up — but did not provide a board recommendation. As incumbents, it was mandatory for Ms Woodhams and Mr Seaby to take part in a candidate assessment panel designed to determine whether they meet certain criteria. All of the candidates except for Ms Alvaro and Mr Blight went through the panel process. CBH also implemented a strict electioneering code of conduct to highlight “minimum standards” for candidates’ behaviour. Under the code, candidates could present their skills, attributes and experience to members while ensuring their conduct was carried out in an “honest and fair way”, protecting the “commercial interests of CBH” and protecting the “standing and reputation of CBH’s officers, employees and members”. Mr West said he was passionate about freight and logistics and hoped he would be able to continue his push for a dual gauge rail line to be reinstated between Narrogin and Pinjarra, while on the CBH board. He stepped down as Shire president in October after deciding to run for the board, but will remain a councillor for two years. “I have always been heavily involved in rail... I think this would help the flow of grain into the Kwinana Port,” Mr West said. “My real interests are grain handling and freight and logistics, and that is a topical issue at the moment.” Ms Woodhams also flagged grain handling as a major priority for the board. “Front of mind is moving grain from upcountry to port, we took in a massive harvest and we are starting to out-turn that,” she said. Mr Seaby paid tribute to retiring director Mr Fuchsbichler and said he believed Ms Woodhams and Mr West would be great directors. “We have a very cohesive board, we are all on the same page, working together to create value for our grower members,” he said. “I am looking forward to working with CEO Ben Macnamara and his team to see our co-operative on an efficacious path forward.” All three candidates thanked the other growers that put their hands up. Mr Stead said the grower elections were an important part of allowing CBH members to choose who represented them. “As a grower-owned co-operative, members have the right to determine their member director representatives on their Board and it is important that members exercise this right,” Mr Stead said. “I would like to thank everyone who put up their hand to contribute to their co-operative as a member director and acknowledge all candidates on their campaigns.” Mr Stead said it was a “credit to the CAP process” and the “value voting members placed in it” that all candidates elected took part. All three directors will be officially appointed at the CBH AGM at Optus Stadium on Friday. The AGM is open to all registered CBH members.