My contribution to a board
I would help a board decide questions of size and shape on evidence its members can recognise. Many member-owned and regional organisations face the same choice Kalverrin faced in 2023: whether to stay independent, merge, partner or shrink. Such decisions are often made under pressure, after a poor year or an unexpected approach, and framed as loyalty against efficiency. I would ask for the standalone case and the alternative to be stated at their strongest, with the condition under which each would fail. I would ask what members would lose, not only what the organisation would save. I bring practical experience of footprint decisions in regional towns, of partnership and distribution choices, and of the capital limits that apply when there are no shareholders to call on. I know how a regional organisation's choices look from a town two hours from the nearest alternative, and I would keep that member in the room when the papers describe averages. I also bring seven years as a director of a not-for-profit, where I have learnt that a director's influence depends on asking the right question at the right meeting rather than on knowing the answer. I would contribute to a risk or audit committee before seeking any chair's role.
Judgement in practice
01Turning a merger debate into a dated test
When the merger approach arrived, the board risked splitting between directors who saw the savings and those who valued independence. My contribution was to change the question. Instead of asking whether we liked the partner, I asked what results would show that independence was working, and by when. The board adopted three thresholds and agreed in advance to reopen consolidation if we missed them. That made the decision reversible on evidence and gave the dissenting directors a clear basis for revisiting it. As a director, I would bring the same discipline to any decision framed as permanent. I would also accept the discomfort that comes with it: our own test currently shows us behind, and I report that plainly each quarter. A board that sets a test and then explains away each miss has not made a decision; it has postponed one. I would expect to be held to that standard myself.
02Questioning a cost case that measured the wrong thing
The proposal to close four western branches was well prepared and financially persuasive. Its weakness was the measure: it counted visits, not what members held or how far they would travel. I did not oppose closures; I proposed different ones. On a board, I would watch for the same pattern, where a sound calculation answers a narrower question than the decision requires. I would ask what the measure leaves out and who would bear that cost. At Ormeleigh I asked the same of a proposal to concentrate clinics in two larger towns, and the trust adopted a rotating schedule instead. Patients from the smaller towns would otherwise have travelled up to four hours for an appointment, a cost that appeared nowhere in the original budget comparison.
My first year on a board
In the first three months I would read the constitution, the last two strategic plans and every paper on scale, consolidation or footprint from the past three years. I would ask the chair which decisions the board expects to face and where it feels least informed. I would meet the chief executive, the finance lead and the person who runs member or customer relations, and visit at least two sites outside head office. By mid-year I would aim to contribute to committee work by asking for the evidence behind major assumptions, not by offering my own plans. I would hold back on comparisons with Kalverrin, which may mislead in a different organisation. I would also learn how members or customers reach the board's attention, whether through complaints, surveys or annual meetings, because that tells me which voices the papers already carry and which they miss. At year end I would ask the chair for frank feedback on whether my questions helped the board decide.
Conflicts and their management
My main conflict risk is commercial. Kalverrin lends to farms, small businesses and households across Central and western Queensland, so a regional organisation may well bank with us, borrow from us or supply us. I would list every such link before accepting and ask the chair to decide how it should be managed. I would leave the room on any matter involving Kalverrin. I would not join another bank's board or the board of any organisation that competes with us for deposits or loans. Confidential information from either side would stay where it belongs. Time is the second risk. Kalverrin's board cycle and the June 2027 review will claim attention, so I would compare both calendars before accepting. If a recurring conflict meant I would be excluded from the issues the board most needs help with, I would decline or step down.
My independence statement
I hold no shares or member interests in any organisation I would consider joining. As an executive of a customer-owned bank, I would declare any lending, deposit or supplier relationship between it and the organisation concerned, and let the board and its advisers judge whether I could act independently.
Committee contribution
Chair and member readiness| Capacity | Committees |
|---|
| Ready to join | Risk · Audit and finance · Strategy or investment |
|---|
Capacity and preferences
- Time available
- 25 days per year
- Current directorships
- 1
- Sectors
- Member-owned and cooperative enterprises outside banking · Agribusiness and regional services · Regional health and community services
- Company type
- Member-owned, cooperative or unlisted regional organisation with an established board
- Company stage
- Weighing a question of scale, consolidation, partnership or service footprint
The seat I am pursuing
I am seeking a non-executive seat on a member-owned or regional organisation outside banking that faces a choice about its size, structure or footprint. An agricultural cooperative, a regional health provider or a member-owned insurer that does not compete with Kalverrin would suit me well. I would expect to join a risk or audit committee and to learn the organisation's obligations before offering firm views. The organisation does not need to be large. What matters is that its board wants a director who will test a standalone case and its alternatives with equal care, and that it is willing to hear an uncomfortable answer. I am not seeking a chair's role in the first term, and I understand that suitability for any seat is for the board to judge.
Governance learning and readiness
IICA Independent Directors’ Databank: Not yet registered
The IICA Independent Directors' Databank governs independent appointments in India. I am an Australian executive seeking Australian roles, so it does not apply to me and I have not registered. I would seek Indian advice only if an appointment there were ever proposed.
- Completed a company directors' course in 2022, covering directors' duties under the Corporations Act, financial oversight and risk.
- Continuing study of APRA's governance expectations for banks and the accountability regime that applies to their senior executives and certain directors.
- Seven years of board experience at a not-for-profit, including its finance and audit committee.
Board and committee exposure
Presented to the Board or a committee
Kalverrin Mutual Bank
Board strategy sessions and the board risk committee
February 2016–present
Presents the strategic plan, the standalone test and investment cases to the board, and growth assumptions to the risk committee; not a director.
Served as a director
Ormeleigh Rural Health Trust
Board; member of the finance and audit committee
March 2019–present
Unpaid non-executive director of a not-for-profit that funds visiting specialist clinics in western Queensland towns.