Bring me the head of John Bond! Ontario's pensioned-off teachers are gunning for the chairman of Vodafone

The powerful Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTPP), one of Vodafone's most loyal institutional investors, tested to its limits has broken ranks and is calling for changes in the company's board of directors citing "strategic weaknesses" and calling Vodafone's acquisitions strategy and record (such as it is) "disastrous."

The Ontario Teacher's Pension Plan has a mere 0.42 per cent interest in Vodafone but it is influential and increasingly unhappy about the paucity of returns on its multi-million dollar invstment.

That's why the OTPP is taking direct aim at Vodafone's upper echelons and at the company's AGM next week (July 27) will vote against the re-election of chairman John Bond and his deputy John Buchanan. You will note that the CEO, Vittorio Colao, is not in the immediate firing line. The OTPP believes Mr. Calao is doing the best job he can under the circumstances but is giving a very visible signal that strategic change is needed - and that it should start at the top of the company.

Of John Bond, who has been Vodafone's chairman since 2006, the OTPP says, "For at least the last five years, the company has had significant structural and strategic weaknesses, resulting in Vodafone trading at a substantial, persistent discount to its asset value."

Thus it wants a "board rejuvenation" and the injection of fresh blood to lead to a shake-up and a shake-out and a new corporate strategy. The OTPP believes none of this will be achieved without the removal of the current chairman and deputy chairman who are perceived as being much more hands on than their roles strictly require. The OTPP believes this interference is tying the hands of Mr.