Grok Ventures‘ Mike Cannon-Brookes has succeeded in getting all four of his independent director candidates appointed to the Board of AGL Energy, despite the current board backing only one of the nominees.
AGL chair Patricia McKenzie acknowledged the election of all four candidates put forward by Cannon-Brookes’s investment company Grok Ventures, despite the current board urging shareholders to vote only for Mark Twidell, while rejecting Kerry Schott, Christine Holman and John Pollaers.
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“The board determined that Mark Twidell, who brings customer-facing experience as well as more than 30 years of experience in the international energy sector, most recently as director (of) energy programs at Tesla, would prove a valuable addition to the board,” McKenzie told investors.
“After careful consideration, the board determined that, although the other candidates nominated by entities associated with Grok Ventures are respected directors in their own right, their skill set was either already present on the board or not aligned to the priority skills that were being sought through the existing board renewal process.”
Shareholders disagreed, however, electing all four of Grok Ventures’ nominees ahead of Tuesday’s AGM. Grok Ventures also welcomed the re-election of former Clean Energy Council chair Miles George to the AGL board, after his initial appointment a couple of months ago.
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“This represents another majority vote by AGL shareholders pointing to their desire for change, fresh thinking and more execution capacity to realise the potential of this great company,” a Grok spokesperson said in a statement.
The news has been welcomed by renewables advocates, who say the election of Cannon-Brookes’ nominees adds pressure on AGL and other large carbon-emitters to further accelerate the switch to renewables.
