22 Jun 2018

Fletcher Building appoints new chairman

3:19 pm on 22 June 2018

Bruce Hassall has been appointed the new chairman of Fletcher Building to replace Sir Ralph Norris.

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Photo: 123rf.com

Sir Ralph announced his resignation in February and stayed on to oversee the transition of new chief executive Ross Taylor and a refresh of the board.

Bruce Hassall, an independent director of Fletcher Building since March 2017, was announced to take over as chairman on 1 September.

Mr Hassall was also a former chief executive and senior partner of PWC New Zealand.

Fletcher Building was going through a restructuring after heavy losses in its building division, and recently announced a new strategy.

Shareholders Association chief executive Michael Midgley said Bruce Hassall's elevation as chair was a logical and predictable choice.

"He's very balanced, he's very experienced."

Mr Midgley also had praise for the four newly appointed directors.

"Top quality appointments and very experienced people."

"Hopefully these are the people who can assist the CEO and all of the executives and people in the company to execute the [new strategy] plan."

Mr Midgley said it was not a major concern that none of the new directors had construction experience.

He said the company still had one more appointment to make to the board, an Australian director.

"That is hopefully where that additional diversity of expertise and skill-set will come."

Mr Hassall would be joined by four new independent directors: Barbara Chapman, Robert McDonald, Douglas McKay and Cathy Quinn.

Ms Chapman was most recently managing director and chief executive of ASB Bank and a director of Genesis Energy and NZME.

Mr McDonald was chief financial officer for Air New Zealand and a director of Contact Energy.

Mr McKay is a former chief executive of a number of companies, including Lion Nathan, Carter Holt Harvey and Goodman Fielder. He is chair of Bank of New Zealand and an independent director of Genesis, IAG New Zealand and the National Australia Bank.

Ms Quinn leads the mergers and acquisitions and private equity teams and the China practice at Minter Ellison Rudd Watts. She is a director of Tourism Holdings.

Sir Ralph said Bruce Hassall would bring strong and steady leadership.

He said the new directors were high-calibre individuals who would bring a mix of commercial, operational and governance expertise, which would greatly enhance the experience and diversity of the board.

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