Telstra chair Catherine Livingstone will stand for re-election to her role at the company’s next annual general meeting in a move that could see her time at the company stretch to 17 years.
Ms Livingstone told News Limited she wanted to stay in the job and would ask shareholders for another term during the company’s annual general meeting in October.
This would give her another three year term as Telstra’s chair. She has been on the company’s board since 2000 and became the chair in 2009.
Fairfax Media confirmed Ms Livingstone will seek re-election with industry sources. Telstra declined to comment.
“I think it is important to have balance renewal and corporate memory and I also think the clock resets when you become chair,” Ms Livingston told News Limited.
Ms Livingstone’s decision to stay on comes at a critical point for the company, which is renegotiating an $11 billion deal to help build the national broadband network and preparing for a major push into the Asian region.
Telstra chief executive David Thodey has set the company a goal of reaping one-third of its profits and revenue from the region from 2020 and beyond.
Ms Livingstone’s re-election would help dampen speculation over Mr Thodey’s potential departure. Both took on their current roles five years ago.
The positions are linked because listed companies typically replace their chairs before CEOs, allowing the new chair to learn the ropes faster and pick their own chief executive.
Under Ms Livingstone and Mr Thodey Telstra saw its share price hit all-time lows during tense NBN negotiations in 2010. But more recently they have guided the telco’s share price to 13-year highs thanks to its NBN agreement and strong performance in the mobile service sector.
