The Wood Recyclers’ Association has extended the number of people who sit on its Board after taking a vote at its Annual General Meeting yesterday.
The trade body, which represents waste wood recyclers, reprocessors and other businesses working in the waste wood sector, now has nine members, eight who have been elected by the membership, plus the Executive Director Julia Turner.
At its AGM in Telford yesterday (March 9th) there were four candidates standing for three seats. A draw for the third seat resulted in the Board holding an Extraordinary Meeting at which it was agreed they would extend the number of positions on the Board to nine, so that all four candidates could be elected.
The newly elected positions include a seat to Vicki Hughes (pictured) of McPhee Associates, formerly of Hadfield Wood Recyclers and Enva Wood Recycling, who becomes the first ever woman to be elected to the Board in the WRA’s 21 year history.
Alan Webb of JM Envirofuels was voted back onto the Board after a three year term of office; Paul Caldwell from IQR, who has been the WRA’s Service Member elected Board representative for the past nine years, was also voted back on to the Board.
They are joined on the Board by Richard Jenkins, CEO of Stobart Energy. All four candidates will now serve a three year term before standing for election again.
Richard Coulson, Chair of the WRA, said he was delighted to see the WRA strengthen its Board even further by adding an eighth elected position.
“The WRA has gone from strength to strength over the past decade and it is great to see that as we celebrate our 21st anniversary this year we have been able to further grow the board, not only by the addition of an extra elected seat but more importantly by experience, knowledge and passion. I’m also delighted to see that Vicki has been formally recognised by our members to be the first woman from our industry to be elected onto the board by our members .”
Yesterday’s meeting also saw founding WRA member Geoff Hadfield stand down from his position on the Board. Geoff was one of a group of wood recyclers to set up the WRA 21 years ago to challenge PRN regulation, which threatened the financial viability of wood recycling at the time.
Geoff has remained on the Board of the WRA for 21 years, taking both position of Chair and Deputy Chair at various times. The WRA presented him with a “running horse” weathervane at its Board meeting on Tuesday as a thank you for all the work and dedication he has given to the sector over the years. He was also given a Lifetime Presidency Award of the Association.
Richard Jenkins, CEO of Stobart Energy was also elected to the WRA Board