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Rachel Waterhouse, ASA CEO, Peter Gregory, Monitor of the Year, Keith Ready, Convenor of the Year, Steve Mabb, ASA Chair
The Australian Shareholders’ Association (ASA), announced the recipients of its second ASA Awards at its 2023 Investor Conference in Sydney recently, highlighting ASX companies for peak governance standards and its own volunteer members, Australian investors contributing to the not-for-profit organisation.
The announcement, which was made at our Conference Gala Dinner on Thursday, 11 May 2023, represents the second time ASA has awarded ASX-listed companies and its volunteers with the below awards. We are also pleased to have refined our awards criteria and launched a webpage to further promote the ASA Awards.
The webpage outlines past and present winners, as well as the voting criteria for the awards themselves. You can read the information here.
The presentation of the awards was well received by the attendees. We encourage our members and company monitors to participate in voting next year as a means appreciating our volunteers who work tirelessly to organise our local meetings and strengthen our advocacy for shareholder rights.
As one of our recipients on the night stated, “you feel the responsibility of we do. It is often a lot of work but extremely rewarding, especially when you feel you are influencing change as we often do”.
Monitor of the Year Award: Peter Gregory (NSW)
This award recognises outstanding contributions to ASA’s voting intentions for monitored companies, engagement at AGMs, and reporting back to ASA members.
When choosing their nominee, we asked voters to consider how effectively this convenor managed their local member meetings, such as if they arranged highly informative guest speakers, if they persevered under difficult circumstances, attracted high attendee counts, including new potential members, encouraged contributions from all attendees, including inexperience investors, and if they displayed the values of the ASA.
Peter was chosen for being a very diligent monitor who has dealt with several challenging company situations over the past year, such as ASX and Link. He is an excellent communicator, both verbally and in writing. His voting intentions reports are well considered and well expressed, and he makes considerable efforts to gather all the facts before making a recommendation.
Upon receiving his award, Peter reflected on the value of being an ASA company monitor:
“A standout of being a monitor is the time and respect we receive when we meet with some of the most powerful Australian business leaders. We are genuinely listened to, even when we challenge them to better consider the needs of individual shareholders. It is quite amazing being on the frontline representing an organisation that is so valued and well respected by these people”.
The finalists were:
Kevin Bowman (WA), Peter Gregory (NSW).
Convenor of the Year Award: Keith Ready (NSW)
This award recognises a nominee’s ability to successfully organise local member meetings where our members can discuss their passion for investment with like-minded retail shareholders.
When choosing a nominee, we asked voters to consider how effectively this convenor managed their local member meetings, such as if they arranged highly informative guest speakers, if they persevered under difficult circumstances, attracted high attendee counts, including new potential members, encouraged contributions from all attendees, including inexperience investors, and if they displayed the values of the ASA.
Keith Ready was recognised for establishing two different discussion groups while also successfully running the Sydney Investor Forum with great attendance numbers and interesting guest speakers. All his groups are popular and benefit from excellent organisational and communication skills.
After receiving his award, Keith Ready paid tribute to his fellow volunteers for helping ASA members throughout the country:
“I am deeply honoured to have received this award from the ASA. Given the wonderful work all my fellow convenors across Australia do for the ASA members of their local investor and discussion groups, I would like to also acknowledge and thank all of these hard working and dedicated people”.
The finalists were:
Ian Thomson (VIC), Sally Holywell (VIC), Keith Ready (NSW), Bernie Masters (WA), Don Matthews (QLD), Michael Rees (QLD), Stephen Howie (SA).
