Queen honours former Speaker, Queenstown's top businessman

The new High Commissioner in London has received a knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

Sir Lockwood Smith follows a long tradition in which Speakers of Parliament are honoured after they have retired.

He was elected to Parliament in 1984, was a cabinet minister for nine years and until his appointment to London he was Speaker for four years.

Queenstown tourism investor and Rich Lister John Davies leads the list of those honoured in business.

Sir John has been made a Knight Companion of the NZ Order of Merit (NZOM). His company, Trojan Holdings, owns the Mount Hutt, Coronet Peak and Remarkables ski fields as well a 40% interest in AJ Hackett Bungy business.

Trojan has extensive transport interests in the South as well as a large property portfolio in and around Queenstown.

Other prominent business people include:

Sky TV founder and the 2012 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Craig Heatley, who is now best known for his role as media chief at the Augusta National Gold Club in the US.

Saatchi & Saatchi global chief executive Kevin Roberts, whose career has also included spells at PepsiCo, Lion Nathan and Telecom (as a director). He is also prominent in rugby, soccer and yachting circles.

Mr Roberts has honorary academic degrees and posts from both the universities of Waikato and Auckland.

Dr Murray Horn, a former Secretary of the Treasury, ANZ senior executive and chairman of the National Health Board. He has served on a number of government boards and has represented this country on the OECD, World Bank and IMF. He is a director of Telecom and recently joined the board of the China Construction Bank, replacing Dame Jenny Shipley.

All have been made Companions of the NZOM.

In law, the list includes the posthumous knighthood for Sir Robert Chambers, awarded on May 21 after his sudden death; and a new Companion of the NZOM, Justice Christopher Allan, a commercial list judge of the High Court at Auckland.

Emeritus Professor John Burrows, a Law Commissioner and media law expert, is an Officer of the NZOM.

Other new Officers are Air New Zealand deputy chief executive Norm Thompson and leading company director David Irving.

Among new Members of the NZOM are Auckland real estate identity Garth Barfoot, whose firm Barfoot & Thompson recently celebrated its 90th anniversary.

Another is builder Graham Coe. Mr Coe spent 36 years running his own construction companies.