New Year Honours: Sir Don's made a name on and off the water

Sir Don Rowlands' achievements include winning the single sculls championship at the 1954 Commonwealth Games.

Sir Don Rowlands
Knight companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit

Rowing identity and businessman Sir Donald (Don) Rowlands' appointment as a knight companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit today comes just a month after becoming one of the few New Zealanders appointed to the Order of Australia.

Sir Don made his name on and off the water with considerable contributions to rowing in New Zealand and internationally, as well as being a successful businessman. According to Kiwi athlete Sir Peter Snell, Sir Don's achievements have flown under the radar because of his humble attitude.

"In my opinion [Sir Don] is peerless as an administrator and no other champion athlete has matched his successful business career," Snell said. "[His] contributions to New Zealand may be greatly underestimated because of his low-profile leadership style, which is to empower others and not take credit for accomplishments under his management."

Sir Don began what would be a lifelong passion for rowing in the 1940s while working for Mason Brothers Engineering. He competed in the Business House competition for the John Thompson memorial cup, an annual event, and continued his rowing career from there.

His success and natural talent have been recognised with numerous awards over the years, and having won medals at the Commonwealth Games in the 1950s among other rowing achievements, Rowlands went on to play a leadership role in the sport.

This included helping to organise local events such as the Maadi Cup, as well as international events such as the Olympics, for which he received a bronze medal of the Olympic Order in 1981.

At 87, he remains actively involved in the sport and, as vice-patron of New Zealand Rowing, is helping to organise the world masters games in New Zealand in 2017.

Vice-president of the Olympic international committee John Coates said there was "no one from Australia or New Zealand who has contributed more for the development of rowing in our region and the international successes the rowers from both our countries have enjoyed over the last 50 years than Mr Rowlands".

His achievements in the sporting sector are rivalled only by his successes in business, which include being inducted into the business hall of fame this year. As chief executive and director of Fisher & Paykel Industries from 1978 to 2001, a significant amount of the company's success is attributed to his leadership.

His business efforts also include work with Hamilton Jet, as well as being the chairman and then director of Mainfreight. Chief executive Bruce Plested said Sir Don was a mentor.

"He had the most enormous reputation for every skill known to man, including man management, getting things done, going incredibly fast, multi-tasking, meeting the Queen and Duke, having the most modern ideas, creating a great team etc," he said.
Friend Phillip Nolan describes Sir Don as an exceptional leader.

"He really does care more about what he is doing than himself, and that's really what leadership is ... He is an extraordinary man and completely selfless."