Woodside names Westfarmers’ CEO as chairman-elect

Australian LNG player Woodside said that Richard Goyder will take the position of the company’s chairman once the current chairman Michael Chaney steps down in April 2018. 

Goyder will join Woodside’s board as an independent, non-executive director and chairman-elect effective August 1, 2017, the company said in a statement.

“To ensure a smooth transition, Richard will join the board in August 2017 as chairman-elect and he will become chairman after our 2018 AGM,” said Chaney who joined the company’s board in 2005 and became chairman in 2007.

Goyder joined Wesfarmers in 1993 and was appointed managing director and chief executive officer in July 2005, and will step down from that role in November 2017.

He is currently a commissioner of the Australian football league commission and will become chairman in April 2017. He is also a director of Gresham Partners Holdings, the Business Council of Australia and The University of Western Australia Business School advisory board.

He was also chairman of the Australian B20, a business advisory body to the international economic forum from February 2013 to December 2014.