New Year Honours: Graeme Wheeler, former Reserve Bank Governor, appointed Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit

Former Reserve Bank Governor Graeme Wheeler. Photo / Mike Mitchell

New Zealand's former Reserve Bank Governor Graeme Wheeler has been made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to the state.

The 66-year-old, who was head of the Reserve Bank from September 2012, retired from the top job in September this year to pursue his interest in joining the board of global companies, including Thyssen-Bornemisza Group.

Wheeler studied at the University of Auckland and began his career in 1973, working as an adviser at the New Zealand Treasury. From 1984 to 1990 he was economic and financial counsellor for the New Zealand delegation to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), eventually becoming Treasurer of the New Zealand Debt Management Office and Deputy Secretary to the New Zealand Treasury in 1993.

In 1997 he began working for the World Bank Group, as director of the Financial Products and Services Department. He was then vice-president and Treasurer from 2001 to 2006 before becoming managing director of operations in 2010.

He even had a stint as a right-hand batsman and bowler, playing one first-class match for the Wellington cricket team in 1981.

In his last interview with the Herald before stepping away from the Reserve Bank, Wheeler said he would pick up where he left off before becoming governor - on the board of European industrial and investment group Thyssen-Bornemisza.

He also said he had plans to find board work locally.

"I've got a couple of board meetings coming up pretty quickly this year - one in Milan and one in New York," he said earlier in the year, in September. "That will get me back to Europe three to four times a year and then I'll look for some board work in New Zealand and Australia and hopefully do some charity work."

Wheeler told the Business Herald about his experiences travelling and living on the breadline as a young man, and the work he did on poverty at the World Bank.

"One of the best things I ever did in life was, twice in my 20s, I took off travelling around the world. I did it deliberately to experience a different side of life and try and understand hardship, disadvantage and discrimination.

"You're essentially living on your wits, sleeping on streets, living with almost no money." That fed a passion to take his economic training to the World Bank.

Wheeler said he enjoyed the management aspect of his job at the Reserve Bank, being chief executive of an organisation he believes is full of world-class people.

Reflecting on his five years as Governor, Wheeler said it had been fun.

"It's been a fascinating time given the complexities in the global economy. And what's been happening in the New Zealand housing market."