THE Directors of Blackmores Limited have unanimously recommended that shareholders in the company vote against the election of former Pharmacy Guild of Australia National President, George Tambassis, to its Board, saying his "deep skills in narrow areas are not enough".
Tambassis has self-nominated for the role, with the backing of major shareholder and former Executive Chairman, Marcus Blackmore and the endorsement of Chemist Warehouse Chief Operating Officer, Mario Tascone (PD 01 Oct).
However the existing Blackmores Board is clearly strongly opposed to Tambassis' election, and yesterday took the extraordinary step of writing to investors, detailing a "strained past Board relationship with Mr Blackmore" and why Tambassis had failed twice in an interview process.
The former Guild President was "interviewed by independent Directors with an external search firm engaged for the process...on both occasions Mr Tambassis was unsuccessful when compared against other candidates".
"To be a Director of Blackmores, deep skills in narrow areas are not enough," the Board said, recognising Tambassis' "specific expertise as a healthcare professional in the pharmacy sector in Australia" but concluding there were already resources with this experience on the Board and within the Blackmores business.
"Blackmores Directors must have a breadth of skills and experience in areas that can help our multi-faceted, international business grow...the members of the Board have all demonstrated that they are 'team players' who can work as part of the team we have built, and have strengthened it," they wrote.
The update also noted that Blackmores' share price was up over 50% in less than a year, and cited the Board renewal which saw Marcus Blackmore retire almost 12 months ago (PD 26 Oct 2020).
Since then four additional experienced independent directors have joined the Board, including former Australian Pharmaceutical Industries CEO Stephen Roche (PD 20 Sep), alongside Wendy Stops, Sharon Warburton and Erica Mann.
"With these additions we have a Board that has the right combination of skills and experience to support Blackmores' future growth and performance," the Board said.
The Directors also noted that when Marcus Blackmore resigned his relationship with the then board was "strained" due to a "difference of views between Mr Blackmore and the rest of the Board about his adherence to the principles of respect in the workplace set out in our Code of Conduct".
The vote for new Blackmores Directors will take place on 27 Oct.
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