Time for a change as Chorus Chair resigns

Chorus Chairman Sue Sheldon announced today that she is to step down from the Chorus Board on 31 March.

“Since taking the role of Chair on demerger, the company has been faced with many significant challenges which it has met head on," Sheldon says.

"I am proud that we as a company have risen to the serious challenges and largely overcome them."

Over the past three years, Sheldon says the Board has established Chorus as a listed entity, guided the company through a series of regulatory shocks that required a fundamental review of its business model and operations and re-shaped the business, including its cost base and capital structure, enabling it to continue to deliver on its obligations to the Crown.

Furthermore, Sheldon has helped position the company "to thrive as it moves into the next phase", including Chorus being the second top performing stock on the NZX during 2014.

“The company is now in a much stronger position and is delivering on its commitments to its customers and New Zealand end users," Sheldon adds.

"As we have signalled at our half year results, the Board will consider reinstating dividends to investors once the final piece of the regulatory puzzle has been completed and can do so knowing that Chorus is in a sound position and in good heart.

“The telecommunications sector has been transformed over the past five years and it has been both rewarding and challenging to be in a leadership role at the heart of that process.

"I believe the industry is now in a strong structural position to deliver to consumers and investors alike. So it is with a great sense of satisfaction that I look forward to meeting other challenges outside of the telecommunications sector.

“I would like to thank Mark Ratcliffe and his management team for their dedication, outstanding support to the Board, and exceptional hard work since demerger."

Sheldon was a Director of Telecom (now Spark) and was appointed Chairman of Chorus by the Telecom Board in August 2011.

Sheldon is also Chairman of Freightways and Paymark, an independent director of Contact Energy and Vice Chair of Global Women.

Following the move, Jon Hartley has been appointed as interim Chairman.