Origin Energy chairman Scott Perkins will be Woolworths’ new chairman of the board, replacing Gordon Cairns.
Perkins, who has been on the Woolworths Group board since 2014, is a business director with experience in Australia and overseas.
He will shortly take over from Gordon Cairns, who was appointed Group Chairman in September 2015.
Cairns indicated at Woolworths’ annual general meeting in October last year that he would not serve out his full three-year term.
He will step down as chairman after the group’s annual general meeting on October 26, according to the group’s filing with the Australian Securities Exchange on Tuesday.
“I am proud of the work the team and directors have achieved together to transform Woolworths Group and deliver for our shareholders,” Cairns said.
“Furthermore, I am honored to have been the president of a purpose-driven company dedicated to working for a better tomorrow for our teams, customers and community.
“We are fortunate to have someone of Scott’s ability and experience, respected by his colleagues and management, to provide the oversight necessary to enable the business to reach its full potential.”
Perkins is an experienced corporate advisor in strategy, mergers and acquisitions and capital markets.
He held senior executive leadership positions at Deutsche Bank from 1999 to 2013. These include as Managing Director and Head of Corporate Finance for Australia and New Zealand, membership of the Corporate and Investment Banking Management Committee of Asia Pacific and CEO of Deutsche Bank New Zealand.
He has also been chairman of Origin Energy since October 2020 and a director of Brambles since June 2015.
Perkins is an active participant in the not-for-profit sector and founded Sweet Louise in New Zealand in 2005, named after his wife, Louise Perkins, who died in 2004 after living with breast cancer for 10 years incurable
Since then, he has been on the board providing guidance and support to the charity, which provides support to New Zealanders living with the same condition.
“Sweet Louise is my sense of purpose,” Perkins said in a post on the charity’s Facebook page last month.
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