Herald names NZ's top business leaders

Mike Daniell, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare chief executive. New Zealander of the Year: Business.

The New Zealand Herald's business team have put together a list of New Zealand's top business people - all nominees for the business category of "New Zealander of the Year".

Say who you think is New Zealand's top business leader with Your Views.

Mike Daniell, chief executive of Fisher and Paykel Healthcare topped the NZ Herald's list which included:

Air NZ chief executive Rob Fyfe
Fyfe this year did what his predecessors had failed to do - he did the decent thing and apologised for the airline's behaviour following the Erebus tragedy.
That got the most headlines, but relatively quietly this year the airline has survived the most severe aviation slump in history in profit and in good shape for 2010, with new planes on order and a makeover coming.

Telecom chief executive Paul Reynolds
With an inclusive style and strength behind his continued makeover at Telecom, Paul Reynolds is once again among the top business leaders.

Ryman Healthcare chief executive Simon Challies
Simon Challies has been described by institutional investors as one of the year's outstanding performers.
He runs the national retirement village chain from Christchurch. Ryman, with a $1 billion market capitalisation, last month posted a realised profit of $29 million for the half-year to September 30, up 12 per cent.

Icebreaker chief executive Jeremy Moon
Moon's clothing company, Icebreaker, is the epitome of a successful New Zealand business - it sells a unique product globally, at a high price, with a very strong brand.

Technology entrepreneur Rod Drury
Drury is that rare beast in New Zealand - a serial entrepreneur.
But after years of building up businesses and flicking them on, he's determined his latest venture, online accounting company Xero, will capture a global market while keeping its roots here.

Abano Healthcare chair Alison Paterson
Alison Paterson has steered the listed private medical-care company through one of this year's biggest deals - selling the New Zealand audiology assets to Australian private equity firm Crescent Capital for $157.8 million.

Entrepreneur Diane Foreman
Diane Foreman's hard work has already been recognised this year. She has won the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award and the Trade & Enterprise best international business gong for a business with turnover of between $10 million and $50 million.

Tourism NZ's outgoing chief executive George Hickton
George Hickton last week stepped down after 10 years at the helm of New Zealand's marketing body - Tourism New Zealand - after facing one of the toughest years in history. Not only did the industry have to deal with the effects of the financial crisis but it was also hit by swine flu.

A group nomination to "investment bankers"
In the UK and US investment bankers have been cast as the villains of the 2008 financial crisis.

But in New Zealand in 2009 they have done an outstanding job of raising cash for local companies at a time when they needed it for their survival.