New Year Honours 2018: Business, philanthopy, arts and media

Leaders in business and philanthropy, a retired mayor and achievers in the arts and the media are among those named as Officers and Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit. In addition, three former MPs, Chester Borrows, David Cunliffe and Lindsay Tisch have been made Companions of the Queen's Service Order.

Business

Officers of the NZ Order of Merit (ONZM)

Leaders in business and philanthropy, a retired mayor and achievers in the arts and the media are among those named as Officers and Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit. In addition, three former MPs, Chester Borrows, David Cunliffe and Lindsay Tisch have been made Companions of the Queen's Service Order (see the complete honours list here).

BUSINESS

Officers of the NZ Order of Merit (ONZM)

Neil Bateup is a Waikato dairy farmer who chairs the Waikato-Hauraki-Coromandel Rural Support Trust and a member of the Ministry for Primary Industries' national adverse events committee. These assist rural people during tough periods. He is also active in a number of other farmer-related organisations, including the Fonterra Shareholders Council, Waikato Federated farmers and the Livestock Improvement Association.

Rachel Brown has supported the cause of sustainable business for nearly 20 years. In 2002, she founded and is still the chief executive of the Sustainable Business Network, which now has more than 500 members. 

Robert (Rob) Jager is a leading advocate for health and safety in the workplace. He was chairman of the Business Leaders Health and Safety Forum from 2011-15 and chaired the taskforce that investigated the Pike River mine disaster. As country chairman of Shell New Zealand, he sold its retail operations in 2015 and bought out partner Todd this year to become the full operator of the Maui, Pohokura and Kapuni gas fields. He is also chairman of the Petroleum Exploration and Production Association.

Penelope (Penny) Mudford was a Manawatu dairy farmer for 20 years before becoming heavily involved in dispute resolution. She was chief executive of the Arbitrators and Mediators Institute (2000-07) and chief executive Institute of Financial Advisers (2012-13).

Margarita Robertson is creative director of Dunedin fashion label NOM*d and internationally recognised as one of the pioneers of the "New Zealand look." She is a long-term supporter of Dunedin's iD Fashion Week as well as New Zealand Fashion Week.

Helen Robinson is chairwoman of The Network for Learning and CLOUD M, two organisations deeply involved in technology education. Previous roles have included managing director of Microsoft NZ and chief executive of TZ1 Registry. She chairs the charity Valens Group, which builds confidence in women in mid-career, and in 2015 she launched Organic Initiative, a company that produces biodegradable hygiene and sanitary products. She is a director of digital health and safety company, Blerter, and in 2016 won the Westpac Women of Influence Supreme Award.

William (Bill) Speedy is the founder and managing director of Oceanbridge Shipping, a cargo consolidator since 1981 and employing more than 100. He is a generous donor to many sea-related organisations, such as yachting (the Auckland Anniversary Day Regatta), Coastguard and surf lifesaving. Oceanbridge provided logistics support for Emirates Team New Zealand at the America’s Cup in Bermuda in 2017. Mr Speedy was inducted this year into the North Shore Business Hall of Fame.

Peter Turnbull has a background as a pilot in commercial aviation and is chief executive of NEST, the Northland Emergency Services Trust, which operates three rescue helicopters. NEST has provided emergency cover for Starship and the Auckland District Health Board since 2005. 

Members of the NZ Order of Merit (MNZM)

Barry Atkinson owns the Electrinet business in Gisborne and supports a wide range of East Coast community organisations through his philanthropy and services. These include Riding for the Disabled, SPCA, Relay for Life, speedway and golf. His donation also helped establish a diabetes unit at Tairawhiti Hospital.

Bryce Barnett is a prominent philanthropist in Taranaki, having sold his business, KLC Property, into Augusta Capital. He started his business career at Inland Revenue, moving to Moller group and then to General Properties Consolidation as managing director. He founded KLC in 1993 after being general manager of MacDow Properties. He heads the Taranaki Rescue Helicopter Trust and, among many other organisations, he is active in the Puke Ariki museum and the East Taranaki Environment Trust. He financially supports kidney disease sufferers and basketball, while at the national level is on the NZ Heritage Trust and a trustee of the Great War Exhibition. 

Professor Sally Davenport has more than 25 years’ experience as a researcher, manager and educator in the fields of science, technology, management and innovation. She was head of Victoria Management School (2009-11) and an inaugural commissioner of the Productivity Commission. In 2017, she was appointed leader of the newly established Science for Technological Innovation National Science Challenge.

Virginia Goldblatt has been a leader in the field of conflict resolution, alternative dispute resolution and mediation for many years. She is director of the Massey University Dispute Resolution Centre from 2007-12. She has contributed to leading texts on mediation and is president of the New Zealand chapter of the Australia and New Zealand Education Law Association.

Dr John Guthrie, of the University of Otago, and is a leading expert on business case competitions. He has been chairman of the International Business Association of Case Competition Coaches since its inception in 2010. His community work includes the Transition to Work Trust, the Eastern Harbour Tennis Club and being an executive committee member of the New Zealand Masters Games from 1992-2002.

Denis Hartley has flown helicopters since 1968 and established the Eastland Helicopter Rescue Service that evolved from emergency work during Cyclone Bola in 1988. It was the country's first community-owned air-ambulance helicopter. 

Cam Moore has been a council member of the Christchurch-based NZ Manufacturers and Exporters Association since 1986 and was president from 2000-02. He was a member of the NZ Institute of Management's southern board from 1987-2006 and president from 1995-96. He played a major role in the development of the Plastics Institute of New Zealand and was a board member of the Canterbury Development Corporation from 2001-10. He has been involved with scouting from 1978 and is active in several charities.

Bruce (Pic) Picot is the Nelson founder of Pic’s Peanut Butter, which started as a one-man, garage-based business in 2007. It is now a multi-million dollar business that comprises two factories and more than 35 staff. Its products are exported internationally. He sponsors many community organisations, including the Brook Waimarama Sanctuary, the Nelson Arts Festival and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Nelson. 

Sue Stanaway is a Bayleys (Takapuna) real estate agent who has been involved in community philanthropy for many years. She is a member of the North Harbour Club charitable trust, which has awarded more than $1.85 million in scholarships to young people since 1995. Since building, and then secured hundreds of thousands of dollars for this project. Since 2015 she has also been general manager of the Bayley’s Foundation, the sponsorship partner for Make-A-Wish New Zealand and the supporter of other organisations including the Auckland Philharmonia.

Honorary:

Noriyuki Inoue is chairman of Daikin Industries, the global Japanese appliance company, and was chief executive from 1994-2014. He is based in Osaka, where he has been honorary New Zealand consul-general since 2001.

Alan McCarthy is a former chief executive of the Irish Trade Board and has been New Zealand's honorary consul to Ireland, based in Dublin, since 1999.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Officer of the NZ Order of Merit (ONZM)

Dr Malcolm Macpherson was Central Otago District mayor from 2001-10 and a councillor for eight years before that. His other community roles include chairing the regional economic development agency Otago Forward, membership of the Otago (now Southern) District Health Board for four terms and eight years on the Otago Polytechnic Council. for eight years and served on the Otago Hospice Trust. He is a third-term member and past chairman of the Central Lakes Trust. He is chairman of Central Stories Museum and Art Gallery, and chairs the Alexandra Men’s Shed Trust and the Clyde Rescue Boat Trust.

ARTS, CULTURE AND MEDIA

Officers of the NZ Order of Merit (ONZM)

Donald Best has been chairman of the NZ Symphony Orchestra since 2009 and is involved in a number of other music organisations. He was principal cellist of the NZ National Youth Orchestra and was also a cellist in the Alex Lindsay String Orchestra.

Rhana Devenport is an art curator and has been director of the Auckland Art Gallery since 2013. After starting her career in Australia, she moved to New Zealand in 2006 to run the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in New Plymouth, where she led fundraising to establish the Len Lye Centre. This year, she curated the Venice Biennale installation In Pursuit of Venus [infected] by Lisa Reihana, who is also in the New Year Honours list. The installation was originally staged in the Auckland Art Gallery in 2015.

John Harrison was executive officer of the NZ Brass Bands Association in 1979-2003 and also executive officer of the Royal New Zealand Pipe Band Association. He helped bring the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo to New Zealand in 2000 and spent 22 years as an announcer and programmer at Radio New Zealand, where he produced the weekly Band Programme from 1985-2003. 

Nicola Legat has spent a career in publishing, initially as a writer for North & South and then a writer and subsequently editor of Metro. She was publishing director at Random House NZ from 2005-14 and the inaugural publisher at Massey University Press from 2015. She chairs the New Zealand Book Awards Trust, which was established in 2014, and is deputy chairwoman of Auckland Writers Week.

Julia Morison is a Christchurch artist of more than 40 years' standing. Her work encompasses a wide variety of media from painting and photography to sculpture and installations. She held the Moet and Chandon contemporary art residency in Avize, France in 1990. After working in France for 10 years she returned to New Zealand to become senior lecturer in painting at the University of Canterbury School of Fine Art until 2007. After the 2011 Christchurch earthquakes, she produced a sculpture exhibition titled Meet Me on the Other Side, using discarded objects and liquefaction sediment. She has public art sculptures in Christchurch and Dunedin. 

Helen Pollock is an Auckland artist and sculptor who has been exhibiting since the 1980s. Her recent installations commemorate World War I. Falls the Shadow, in the medium of bronze and clay, marks the 90th anniversary of the Armistice and New Zealand’s sacrifice at Passchendaele in 1917. Initially unveiled in the Auckland War Memorial Museum in 2008, it is now a permanent feature. Victory Medal marks the anniversary of the liberation of Le Quesnoy by the New Zealand Division on November 4, 1918.

Helene Wong has contributed to cultural life over 30 years as a documentary maker, author and film critic. Ms Wong was the inaugural development consultant for the New Zealand Film Commission and served two terms on its board. Her film projects include Illustrious Energy and documentaries on themes about women (Unbearably Beautiful, 1991) and the history of Chinese New Zealanders (Footprints of the Dragon, 1994). Her memoir, Being Chinese: A New Zealander’s Story, was published last year. Her film reviews were published in the NZ Listener over many years.

Members of the NZ Order of Merit (MNZM)

Elise Bradley now lives in Canada but established herself in New Zealand as a music teacher, choral singer and soloist. She formed the NZ Choral Federation and Sing Aotearoa. At Auckland’s Westlake Girls’ High School she founded internationally renowned Key Cygnetures choir in 1992 and directed it until 2007. She was also director of the New Zealand Secondary Students’ Choir from 2000-07. In 2007, she was selected to become the artistic director of the Toronto Children’s Chorus.

Professor Barbara Brookes, an historian at the University of Otago, won the illustrated non-fiction section of this year's New Zealand Books Awards with her A History of New Zealand Women. She has produced 10 books and 38 book chapters. She is co-editor of the New Zealand Journal of History and is on the editorial boards of Health and History and the Journal of Family History.

John Gow and Gary Langsford co-founded the Gow Langsford Gallery in Auckland in 1987 and have contributed significantly to the growth of contemporary art. Over that time they have staged more than 500 exhibitions, including major historical ones for artists such as Charles Goldie, Colin McCahon and Gordon Walters. Both have promoted New Zealand art at the international level. Mr Gow is a director of John Leech Gallery, which maintains a private heritage collection, while Mr Lansford is on the board of the New Zealand Contemporary Arts Trust. 

Renée Liang is a practising paediatrician as well as a librettist, short story writer, poet and playwright. She was librettist for The Bone Feeder Opera, which premiered at this year's Auckland Arts Festival, and also helped write Dominion Rd The Musical. She co-created the interactive digital narrative Golden Threads for the Auckland War Memorial Museum, putting players in the shoes of early Chinese settlers to New Zealand. 

Neville Peat, a Dunedin writer and environmentalist, published Forever the Forest in 1987 and followed this titles such as  The Falcon and the Lark (1992), Wild Dunedin (1995), Seabird Genius (2011) and Rivers Rare (2016). He wrote the government nomination of the New Zealand Subantarctic Islands as a Unesco World Heritage Area, which was listed in 1998. In 2007, he was awarded the Creative New Zealand Michael King Writers’ Fellowship to write The Tasman – Biography of an Ocean (2010). He spent three terms on the Otago Regional Council until 2007 and was elected to Dunedin City Council in 2013.  He was Dunedin's inaugural Citizen of the Year 1994.

Lisa Reihana is an Auckland artist whose large-scale video installation In Pursuit of Venus [infected] represented New Zealand at the 2017 Venice Biennale. Her more recent work was included in the inaugural 2017 Honolulu Biennial. Her works are held in private and public collections, including Te Papa Tongarewa, Auckland Art Gallery, Australia National Gallery, Staatliche Museum, Berlin; Susan O'Connor Foundation, Texas; and Brooklyn Museum, New York. Earlier this year she was named a University of Auckland Distinguished Alumni.

Lloyd Scott has broadcast to overnight audiences on RNZ National for the past 13 years until he retired this year. He started as an announcer in the 1960s and has appeared in about 80 mainly musical theatre productions. He starred in the famous Toyota ute ads as Barry Crump's sidekick and hosted TV shows, including Video Dispatch.

Philip Sherry presented the national news on radio and television throughout a long career in broadcasting. He then turned to local government, first as a North Shore City councillor and then on the Bay of Plenty Regional Council, where he had four terms from 2004-16, two of them as deputy chairman. He has supported a range of philanthropic causes, most recently the Macular Degeneration New Zealand Society.

Honorary:

Dr Rudolf (Ruud) Kleinpaste is best known as radio and TV's “bug man” who promoted the positive side of insects life. He is also an internationally recognised entomologist and ecologist who is active in Project Crimson, Kiwis for Kiwi, the Air New Zealand Environment Trust, Kids Restore New Zealand and the Omaha Shorebird Protection Trust. He is patron of the Little Barrier Island Supporters Trust, the National Wetland Trust, Trees for Survival, Southland Community Environment Trust and Wingspan.

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