Unfortunately, his final year before standing down through terminal illness was the worst of an energetic and distinguished 20-year governance effort on behalf of dairy farmers.
Like an admiral of the fleet watching a slow-motion collision, Wilson saw hazards from the past working with the tide of international dairy prices to produce Fonterra’s first-ever loss.
Fonterra is a unique, modern, market-share producer co-operative with a complex structure of gear wheels and drivers and no-one knew it better than Wilson.
He was intimately involved in designing then amending, firstly as inaugural chairman of the Fonterra Shareholders’ Council, an echo chamber between the company and its farmer-shareholders, then as farmer-director and understudy to former chairman Sir Henry van der Heyden.
He was charged with leading the structural changes in 2012 that created the Fonterra Shareholders Fund and Trading Among Farmers to safeguard farmers’ equity and stabilise the balance sheet.
More recently, in 2015-16, wide-ranging governance and representation changes were made to downsize the board, improve candidate assessment and selection and add relevance to the council.
As always in the dairy industry, none of the reforms was resolved harmoniously or at the first vote but Wilson was a tenacious, courteous and indefatigable leader until illness struck.
Aged 54 at his death, he had devoted more than half his adult life to dairy industry representation and spent countless days and nights away from his wife Belinda and their four daughters.
Farming leader and trade envoy Mike Petersen, who attended Massey University with Wilson, said trade missions and diplomatic visits are time-consuming and tiring.
“He was a very engaging and convincing representative of Fonterra and New Zealand, who made a huge commitment to his fellow dairy farmers, co-operative ownership and the industry.
“Back here, structural reform is very hard to achieve with 8000-plus owners and businesspeople who are independently minded.
“It takes a lot of shoe leather and shed meetings and John did that very well.
“But it is as a farmer, husband and father that John would most liked to be remembered.”
Former Fonterra strategy general manager Alex Duncan said Wilson represented NZ Dairy Group farmers when the super co-op was being planned then carved out the roles of the council.
He was later entrusted with the TAF deliberations after the first capital restructure proposal foundered on adverse farmer opinion.
“His incisiveness was impressive. He wanted change and knew how to achieve that.
“But he was also collaborative, hearing the inputs from fellow directors, advisers and outsiders.
“He was also someone you could disagree with and he wouldn’t take umbrage.
“He always kept his cool and therefore he continued to make progress.”
Former Primary Industries Minister and dairy farmer Nathan Guy, at Massey with one of Wilson’s brothers, said the family was strong, very good at farming and very supportive of their leading light.
“John had a unique skill set and he was so comfortable in many different circumstances.
“For five years (2012 to 2017) we had a strong working relationship through food safety scares, a big dairy downturn and many trade missions.
“He was a champion for Fonterra and the dairy industry and always kept farmers front and centre.
“He had integrity – if he disagreed with you he would tell you why and he had huge respect in many places, here and overseas.”
Current chairman John Monaghan, also a long-serving director and former council chairman, paid tribute to his friend and predecessor.
“We owe John Wilson and his family a debt of gratitude for all the time, energy and sheer hard graft he gave us as a farmer-owner, inaugural chairman of the council on merger, as a farmer-director from 2003 and as our chairman from 2012.
“John always brought dedication, commitment and deep dairy knowledge to each of the representation and governance roles in which he served.
“On behalf of his fellow farmers he was the ultimate advocate for what we stand for.
“We have lost a friend, colleague, leader and champion for our industry much too soon. Our thoughts and deep gratitude for all that he contributed go to his family and friends,” Monaghan said.
“He would never back down from going at something head on if he believed it was important.
“He always looked ahead and focused on finding a way through the tough times that would protect Fonterra’s farmers, sharemilkers and their families.”
Chief executive Miles Hurrell said he worked with Wilson for years and like many others greatly admired his commitment and determination to do the best for farmers, the dairy industry and NZ.
DairyNZ chairman and fellow former Fonterra director Jim van der Poel said Wilson never lost touch with farmers and was always interested in farmer welfare.
“John’s talent, commitment and leadership will be tremendously missed.”
Federated Farmers dairy chairman Andrew Hoggard said Wilson achieved major reforms of Fonterra and participated in vigorous debates about industry structure without anyone saying a bad word about him.
“He would strongly disagree and you were left in no doubt.
“We had our points of difference over DIRA, for example, but he put forward a workable compromise.
“People on the outside wouldn’t appreciate his tremendous commitment to the dairy industry and the time he spent away from farm and family.”
