The new chairman of Boral, Ryan Stokes, has opted to chair the cement and asphalt group for free, and has also reaffirmed that the Stokes family’s Seven Group Holdings will keep a majority of independent directors even though it controls almost 70 per cent of the company.

Mr Stokes said in the Boral annual report out on Thursday that both he and another Seven Group Holdings-nominated director, Richard Richards, would not draw any fees for their roles.