Tower completes board overhaul
TowerLimited has completed a major reshuffle of its board following the appointment of two new directors - John Spencer and Maurice Loomes.
Earlier this year long-serving director Lance Cottam retired, as well as Colin Beyer, Lindsay Cumming AM and Sir Colin Maiden, with Anthony Gibbs and Gary Weiss stepping in to fill two of the four vacated seats.
On the appointments, Tower chairman Olaf O’Duill says, “I made the commitment to shareholders at the annual meeting that the Tower board would be restructured and revitalised, and these appointments are an important part of this process.”
Wellington-based Spencer was formerly chief executive of the New Zealand Dairy Group, and is now chairman of Tainui Group Holdings, a director of the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, the deputy chairman of the Accounting Standards Review Board and a trustee of Workplace, the national centre for workplace literacy in New Zealand.
A company director from Sydney, Loomes is chairman of Canberra Investment Corporation, a director of Reinsurance Australia Corporation in Australia and Turners and Growers in New Zealand, as well as a member of the Australian advisory board of Lazard Funds Management. Loomes has also been a director of a number of other companies including Tyndall Australia, the Colonial Motor Company (NZ) and Guinness Peat Group.
Both directors will be subject to re-election at the 2004 annual meeting.
Meanwhile atTower Trust, Victoria Cowie has been appointed New South Wales state manager.
Prior to joining Tower, Cowie spent six years with AM Corporation as state manager for New South Wales and Queensland, and has also worked with Advance Funds Management as business development manager for gearing and unit trusts.
Tower Trust national sales manager David Rowell says the state manager role, with its relationship management function and through the management of business development and administration staff, is a crucial element in both growing new business and maintaining a high service level to intermediaries using Tower Trust’s products.
Recommended for you
A strong demand for core fixed income solutions has seen the Betashares Australian Composite Bond ETF surpass $1 billion in funds under management, driven by both advisers and investors.
As the end of the year approaches, two listed advice licensees have seen significant year-on-year improvement in their share price with only one firm reporting a loss since the start of 2025.
Having departed Magellan after more than 18 years, its former head of investment Gerald Stack has been appointed as chief executive of MFF Group.
With scalability becoming increasingly important for advice firms, a specialist consultant says organisational structure and strategic planning can be the biggest hurdles for those chasing growth.
