Mr O'Boyle was a convincing victor with 10,779,693 votes, followed by Oliver Saxton (North Waikato) with 8,986,745, David Shaw (South Otago) with 8,907,781, and William Oliver (King Country) with 4,921,728.
Mr O'Boyle fills the position made available by long-serving Hawkes Bay director Angus Mabin, who retires at the company's annual meeting in Dunedin tomorrow. He was appointed to the board in 2007.
Chairman Rob Hewett thanked Mr Mabin for his dedication through his years on the board and, prior to that, four years on the company's North Island supplier council.
His insight into North Island issues, following the takeover of rival Richmond, helped with the "significant job of rebuilding faith'' with members of the co-operative and suppliers in the North Island, Mr Hewett said.
"He is handing over the reins with our co-operative now in a sound space financially and strategically,'' he said.
He also welcomed Mr O'Boyle on to the board, saying he was looking forward to working with him.
"As indicated by the independent assessment of Tony ... he is clearly very capable, and has come through a strong group of candidates. It is a particularly interesting time to be part of our co-operative as we work towards the completion of our 50:50 partnership with Shanghai Maling. Tony's contribution as a director ... will be valuable as we make a significant step-change for Silver Fern Farms,'' he said.
Mr O'Boyle, who is also a director of Farmlands, has experience in both dairy and drystock farming.
He has had various industry roles, including with New Zealand Dairy Group, as chairman of the Fonterra Shareholders Council, and with Wools of New Zealand.
The vote represented 55.36% of total eligible shares, compared to 68.10% in the previous election in February.
The voter return percentage was 23.72% of eligible shareholders, compared to the February return of 30.86%.
Votes were received from 1183 eligible voters from a total of 4986 eligible voters.
Results of Alliance Group's director elections will also be announced this week, with six candidates standing for the two vacancies on the board caused by the retirement of Murray Donald (Southland) and Doug Brown (North Otago).
