Rob McLeod chaired the New Zealand Business Roundtable from 2002 to 2010 and the Government Tax Review in 2001.
Rob McLeod chaired the New Zealand Business Roundtable from 2002 to 2010 and the Government Tax Review in 2001.
Rob McLeod
Knight companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to business and Māori A specialist tax practitioner for more than 25 years, Sir Rob McLeod has held a variety of positions serving New Zealand and Māori business interests.
McLeod chaired the New Zealand Business Roundtable from 2002 to 2010 and the Government Tax Review in 2001. He served as chief executive and managing partner of Ernst and Young Oceania from 2010 to 2014 and retired as chairman the next year.
In 2006, McLeod was appointed to the Hui Taumata Taskforce to increase Māori workforce participation, promote entrepreneurship, and enhance Māori leadership and governance.
He has also been lead negotiator for Te Haeata (Ngāti Porou Treaty Settlement Committee).
McLeod has been a member of the Independent Ministerial Advisory Panel for the Defence Review, the National Infrastructure Advisory Board, and the Ministerial (Todd) Taskforce on Tertiary Education and the Capital Markets Taskforce, as well as a commissioner of the Treaty of Waitangi Fisheries Commission, chairman of Aotearoa Fisheries Ltd, and director of Tainui Group Holdings.
He is also a retired member of the Business Council of Australia, which includes membership of the Indigenous Engagement Taskforce and the Economic Policy and Competitiveness Committee.
Kristy McDonald
Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the law and governance Kristy McDonald has been involved in high-profile legal cases and advised ministers of the Crown and government agency chiefs in sensitive and complex matters.
She has represented the Crown in significant criminal murder and serious fraud trials, reviewed petitions on the exercise of the royal prerogative of mercy, and has provided advice to the Attorney General on the grant of legal aid to the Privy Council.
McDonald has been involved in public inquiries including commissions of inquiry and ministerial inquiries, such as the Commission of Inquiry into Police Conduct, the 2012 Pike River Royal Commission, State Services Commission Fisheries inquiry, and the Ministerial Review of the Psychologists Act.
Since the early 90s, she has had a range of governance roles, including chair of the Mental Health Review Tribunal, the Immigration Removal Review Authority, the Judicial Control Authority for Racing, Real Estate Agents Authority, and Aratoi Regional Trust.
McDonald is chair of Kiwifruit New Zealand, deputy chair of the Electoral Commission and a director of ACC. She has had leadership roles with the New Zealand Law Society and was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1999.
Bob Campbell
Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the wine industry Bob Campbell has promoted New Zealand wine nationally and on the world stage for four and a half decades.
He began his career in the wine industry in 1973 as a bean counter for Montana, which pioneered the Marlborough wine region's development in the 1970s.
Campbell worked in accounting, marketing, export and company manager roles for several winemakers before starting his own business in 1986 and embarking on a career as a wine commentator, judge and teacher.
He was only the second New Zealander to achieve the prestigious Master of Wine designation, of which there are only 354 in the world.
He founded The Wine Gallery, an Auckland-based wine school, in 1990 and is widely regarded as New Zealand's foremost wine educator.
And even after 45 years in the industry, he retains what wine-tasters would call "bite". In January 2018, he was sharply critical of Montana (now owned by the multinational Pernod Ricard) for turning to Australian grapes. "Australian sauvignon blanc is, by and large, inferior," he said.
Andy Hamilton
Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to business Andy Hamilton has been instrumental in the development of the New Zealand entrepreneurial community.
The founding chief executive of business incubator The Icehouse, Hamilton has played an active role in supporting New Zealand businesses for 17 years.
As CEO, Hamilton has supported the founding of several organisations that have contributed to the business ecosystem, including The Velocity Entrepreneurship Challenge at the University of Auckland, Incubators New Zealand, Angel Association of New Zealand, and Ice Angels Investment Network.
Icehouse's efforts have led to more than 16,000 jobs being created by its customers.
Under Hamilton's leadership, Icehouse has provided assistance to the Young Enterprise Scheme which mentors students from around the country and it encourages them to participate in business development challenges.
Murray Fenton
Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to design and business Murray Fenton developed plastic injection-moulding company Adept by building an injection-moulding machine in his backyard. Over the following 48 years he grew the company to employ more than 100 people with annual revenue of $25 million.
Adept began by manufacturing products for the meat industry and has been a long-time contract manufacturer for other New Zealand companies such as Fisher and Paykel Healthcare.
Adept's beef clip, developed in 1977, has become, and remains, the meat-processing industry standard, with more than two billion units sold worldwide.
Fenton also developed a lens case for the Fred Hollows Foundation. Products made by Adept have received several industry awards.
The Adept product, STARBoard, a carbon fibre adjustable arm support product for radial artery access medical procedures, won the supreme award in the 2012 New Zealand Plastics Industry Design Awards.
Asked by the Herald in 2015 what key qualities were required to make a successful product developer, Fenton said thoroughness and persistence.
"While the occasional brilliant flash of inspiration can set you on the right path, it's perspiration that counts," he said.
Paul Little and Vinka Lucas. Photo / Norrie Montgomery
Vinka Lucas
Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the fashion industry and design Fashion designer and entrepreneur Vinka Lucas started out with small dressmakers in Hamilton in the late 50s, where she focused on bridal and eveningwear, growing a reputation with contemporary design and high-end gowns.
She moved her business to Auckland with husband David and established New Zealand's first bridal magazine, Bridal Annual, in 1963. Other fashion-oriented publications followed, and she established a pattern-making service, which gave amateurs the opportunity to recreate her designs.
From these origins, Lucas grew the Maree de Maur label, a household name in New Zealand fashion for decades.
Lucas brought New Zealand design to international attention through her uniforms for Air New Zealand hostesses from 1973 to 1976 and national costumes for international pageants such as Miss World and Miss Universe.
According to the New Zealand Fashion Museum website, Lucas said the colourful, exuberant style that characterised her career in haute couture was a reflection of her multicultural childhood.
Born in the Croatian village of Kozica near the Adriatic coast, Lucas's proximity to Italy, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Albania and Greece meant she was was exposed to a variety of cultural influences.
She was skilled in the needlework and embroidery for which Croatian women were famed, and later trained in cutting and design in the capital, Zagreb.
World War II took its toll on members of Lucas' immediate family. Post-war, she travelled to New Zealand to stay with family in Northland. Lucas remained involved until a stroke in 2009 prevented her from continuing her design work.
