Proposed changes to the board structure and electoral areas of Lakeland Dairies are to be brought before a special general meeting (SGM) of the cooperative in September.
This follows the board’s unanimous approval of recommendations made by a corporate governance sub-committee established to review the rules of the society after the merger between Lakeland Dairies and LacPatrick Dairies was completed in 2019.
Lakeland Dairies has written to all shareholding members with notice of the SGM which will be held on Wednesday, September 2.
As provided for in the co-op’s rules, the board established a governance sub-committee – chaired independently by Teddy Cashman with six members of the current board – to carry out a review of shareholder representation and governance arrangements in the new society.
Following an extensive consultation process throughout the co-operative and deliberation over several months, the sub-committee reported to the board with recommendations on new governance structures which the board approved on Thursday, February 13, and is unanimously recommending to members at the SGM in September.
- The current electoral areas will be replaced with 13 new electoral areas, based on milk supplier members, with a broadly equal number of milk supplier members in each electoral area in the Republic of Ireland and each electoral area in Northern Ireland. Each electoral area will be represented by one board member, with eight in the Republic of Ireland and five in Northern Ireland;
- Each electoral area will be divided into sub-areas, with three sub-areas per electoral area in the republic, and two per electoral area in Northern Ireland;
- Following from the merger in 2019, the current board has 22 elected members and it is proposed to reduce this to 13 with the option to also co-opt up to three directors;
- To avoid wholesale changes to the important role of the board by running all 13 elections at once, the elections will instead be held on a phased basis. Eight of the new electoral areas currently with more than one board member will hold elections in November 2020 and the remaining five new electoral areas will hold elections in November 2021.
Various provisions around the length of term a director can serve should he/she win one of these first elections are set out in detail in a circular being sent to members.
Following from this set of first elections it is proposed to change the maximum number of years that a member may serve as a director of the society from 12 years (three four-year terms) to 10 years (two five-year terms).
Commenting, Alo Duffy, chairman of Lakeland Dairies, said:
The board, through the governance sub-committee, has used the time since the merger to review our corporate governance to ensure that our democratic and leadership structures will continue to serve the best interests of all our members into the future.
“The board is unanimously recommending these resolutions,” Duffy added.