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Fonterra's outgoing chairman Henry van der Heyden has used his final speech as chairman to thank farmer shareholders for their support.
"You have all been a source of constant strength and motivation, especially during the harder yards," he told Fonterra's annual meeting in Hamilton today.
"But every one of those hard yards has been worth it. It was always my goal to hand over a strong, successful cooperative with a great future ahead of us. With your support and your commitment to make the bold calls when they matter most, I truly believe we've got there. Thank you. It has been a privilege."
Van der Heyden also thanked co-op directors, his wife Jocelyn, his family and the wider Fonterra family. He said right through his chairmanship, shareholders rewarded him with their trust.
"Your trust brings huge responsibilities with it. I've been very aware of that from the very first time I was elected as a director nearly 20 years ago. I have always seen it as shareholders giving me a very specific job, along with a clear message they will also hold me accountable.
"The job you gave me was always to do what's right for our cooperative. It has been to always look one step ahead for the opportunities to make us stronger, bigger, more profitable and truly global. And it has been to ensure we turned those opportunities into reality.
"I have had good role models for this job, starting with my parents. They were ambitious for our family, seeing opportunities for us to do better, even if it meant moving us half way across the world. They taught all of us kids to be ambitious for ourselves, because they knew that if you coast along, you will get left behind. Jocelyn and I have passed the same values on to our family – because like our parents, we want them to do better than we've done."
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