A Dame and two Sirs for business in New Year honours

Rosanne Meo, John Todd and Colin Giltrap are the top businesspeople recognised in the 2012 New Year Honours List.

Mrs Meo becomes a Dame for services to business while Mr Todd (CNZM) is knighted also for services to business.

Mr Giltrap receives a knighthood for services to motorsport and philanthropy.

Diane Foreman receives a CNZM for services to business.

See the full 2012 New Year Honours list.

Rosanne Meo
Ms Meo has been a director and chairwoman of many private and public companies, community organisations and state owned enterprises for over 20 years. She is currently a director of AMP Services, Overland Footwear and chairwoman of Briscoes and the Auckland Philharmonia Trust. She is a trustee of the Liggins Institute, South Auckland Health Foundation and the Kelliher Charitable Trust. Previous roles include chairwoman of TVNZ and director of Mercury Energy, Sky TV, Ports of Auckland, Forestry Corporation and Baycorp.

John Todd
The just-retired chairman of the Todd Corporation is a past president of the Wellington Manufacturers' Association and was a founding trustee of the Arts Foundation as well as a trustee of the Royal New Zealand Ballet, the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council and Volunteer Service Abroad.
In a recent interview with NBR, Todd family patriarch John Todd said New Zealand’s ability to generate wealth would be helped by translating the “productivity” catch cry into something meaningful. His suggestions: provide a source of serious investment monies to put into building up capital resources; encourage the easing of constricting regulations; and better utilise embedded natural resources.
His advice to those who aspire to wealth creation is to have the courage to develop your ideas. “Just get stuck in – you may fail, but what the hell, you won’t succeed if you don’t try.”
And the best piece of advice is one the Todd family enterprises have consistently embraced: “practice financial conservatism.” While enterprise needs money, it pays to be prudent in your borrowing, he said.
It’s timeless advice from a man who, now in his early 80s, has chaired the Todd Corporation since 1987. He also chairs its long-established charitable foundation, which gives millions to supporting the arts – sponsoring New Zealand ballet, opera, festival of the arts and NZ Symphony Orchestra. Two months after the Christchurch earthquake, it had raised more than $1.8 million for post recovery work.
The Todd family was ranked number three on the 2011 NBR Rich List with wealth of $2.7 billion.

Colin Giltrap
Receiving his knighthood for services to motoring and philanthropy, Colin Giltrap is chairman of the Giltrap Group which he started with a Hamilton car dealership in the 1960s.
The 71-year-old doesn’t just sell cars, he has been an active supporter of motor sport for 30 years. A patron of the Bruce McLaren Trust, he has helped the careers of many promising New Zealand drivers including Indy racing champion Scott Dixon.
Colin Giltrap was ranked at 22nd equal on the 2011 NBR Rich List with wealth of $300 million.

Diane Foreman
The former deputy of the NZ Business Roundtable was the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2009. She founded the Emerald Group investment company, which owns and exports the New Zealand Natural icecream brand globally.
Ms Foreman came in at number 35 on the NBR Rich list with wealth of $175 million.