A selection of new Officers and Members of the NZ Order of Merit and two Antarctic Medallists.
Leaders in the arts and media, business, law and the environment are among new Officers of the NZ Order of Merit (ONZM). They include:
Arts and media
Malcolm Black was the lead singer and song writer with the Netherworld Dancing Toys in the 1980s. He subsequently established himself as specialist music lawyer, playing a key role in the development of legal and accounting infrastructures for artists and recording, publishing and management companies.
Shirley Horrocks is a documentary film-makers who has produced and directed 25 one-hour or feature-length documentaries and numerous half-hour documentaries over 35 years. They include profiles of figures such as Len Lye, Marti Friedlander, Allen Curnow, Albert Wendt and most recently Sir Paul Callaghan,
Fran O’Sullivan is a journalist and commentator with New Zealand Herald publisher NZME where she is editorial director of business. She has been a Herald columnist since 1997 and was assistant editor from 2001-05. She edited The National Business Review from 1993-96. Apart from her media career, she has been instrumental in creating significant platforms to advance New Zealand’s key international trade and business relationships as a founding director of the New Zealand Apec CEO Summit board.
Rob Tapert is an American film and television producer, who has more than 50 production credits and has been involved with New Zealand’s screen industry since 1993. His feature films include Boogeyman, 30 Days of Night and the remake of Evil Dead. Television shows include Ash vs Evil Dead, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena: Warrior Princess, Legend of the Seeker and Spartacus, all made in New Zealand.
Dr Selina Tusitala Marsh is the New Zealand Poet Laureate and an Associate Professor at the University of Auckland, specialising in Māori and Pacific literary studies and creative writing. Her poetry has been published in more than 70 national and international anthologies, academic books, literary and scholarly journals, and literary websites
Business
Bob Campbell has championed the New Zealand wine industry for the past 45 years. He was part of Montana Wines, which initiated the development of the Marlborough wine region in the early 1970s. Since then he has promoted the wine industry nationally and overseas as a judge and writer.
Murray Fenton is the founder, sole owner and managing director of Adept, an Auckland plastic injection-moulding company. He developed his first moulding machine in his back yard and over the following 48 years expanded the company to employ more than 100 people with an annual revenue of $25 million.
Dr Ian Hall began focusing his research on edible mycorrhizal mushrooms in 1982 by developing a method for establishing the Périgord black truffle on the roots of suitable host trees. His methods were used to establish the first artificial truffières (truffle plantations) in the Southern Hemisphere in 1987. The first Périgord black truffles were produced near Gisborne in 1993, where the first commercial harvest was made in 1997.
Andy Hamilton has been the founding chief executive officer of the Icehouse, an early business incubator, since 2001. He has played an active role in supporting startup businesses and the Icehouse’s efforts have led to the creation of more than 16,000 new jobs by its customers.
Tom Thomson is a co-owner of Elastomer Products (EPL), which has more than 100 staff in Christchurch and Thailand. EPL introduced new plastic polymers to the New Zealand market and has worked closely with manufacturers such as Fisher & Paykel. Mr Thomson, who has been in the industry for 44 years, was national president of Plastics New Zealand from 1998-2000 and president of the NZ Manufacturers and Exporters Association from 2014-16.
Law/governance
Kristy McDonald QC has advised government ministers and agency CEOs for nearly 40 years, including advising on, or representing the Crown’s interest in, highly sensitive and complex matters. These include significant criminal murder and serious fraud trials, commissions of inquiry and ministerial inquiries into police conduct, the 2012 Pike River Royal Commission, the State Services Commission Fisheries Inquiry and the Ministerial Review of the Psychologists.
Environment/conservation
Russell Howie has been involved with environmental resource management since the mid-1960s and has been a Commissioner of the Environment Court since 2001. During this time he has written rules for granting the rights to use water, water classifications and consents, including the water rights for the Clyde Dam.
Di Lucas has been an advocate for conservation for many years in a voluntary and professional capacity. She has chaired the Nature Heritage Fund since its inception in 1990 and played a key role in directing its land protection strategies. Previous honour: New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal.
New Members of the NZOM include:
Carole Beu established Auckland’s The Women’s Bookshop in 1989 and has supported the literary industry through voluntary activities,
Edmund Bohan has been an opera a singer since the 1960s and a historian and author from the 1970s. His 18 historical biographies and works fiction include Edward Stafford, New Zealand’s First Statesman (1994), To Be a Hero: a biography of Sir George Grey (1998) and detective novels featuring Inspector Patrick O’Rorke, the most recent of which was published in 2017.
Gina Dellabarca co-founded the Show Me Shorts Festival Trust in 2005, which aims to connect New Zealanders with quality short films and foster the local short film industry.
Lani Evans has been Manager of the Vodafone New Zealand Foundation since 2016 and is leading the organisation’s programmes aimed at reducing the number of excluded and disadvantaged young people in New Zealand.
Alan Hitchens was a newspaper editor, manager and mentor of young journalists here and in the US where he was chief executive of Independent News Corporation from 1994-97, In New Zealand, he worked for The Dominion, Sunday News and was general manager of News Media Auckland from 1986-94.
Vinka Lucas is a fashion designer and entrepreneur who was a trailblazer for fashion-oriented businesses, publications and design. She began her career with a small dressmakers business in Hamilton in the late 1950s, where she focused on bridal and eveningwear. She moved her business to Auckland and with her husband established New Zealand’s first bridal magazine in 1963. The Maree de Maru label became a household name and Mrs Lucas remained involved in the business until a stroke in 2009 prevented her from continuing her design work.
Paula Morris is an internationally successful author of 12 books for both adult and young adult audiences. Her works include the novels Queen of Beauty (2002) and Rangatira (2011).
Raewyn Peart has been policy director of the Environmental Defence Society (EDS) since 2001 and has made significant contributions through her research, writing and advocacy.
Fiona Samuel started her career as an actor and has since shifted her focus to script writing and directing. Her television dramas include The Marching Girls, Face Value, Home Movie, Piece of My Heart and Bliss.
Kaz Staples is founder, owner and managing director of Pure Delish, a maker of cereals, cakes and natural snack foods. They are also exported to Australia, Singapore, China, Thailand and Tahiti.
Dr Siouxsie Wiles ia a science communicator and a microbiologist at the University of Auckland since 2009. She is head of the Bioluminescent Superbugs Lab and her work has included raising awareness of superbugs. Her publications include Antibiotic Resistance: The End of Modern Medicine? (2017).
Antarctic Medals:
Professor Pat Langhorne is the country’s foremost sea-ice scientist with a specific focus on ice physics. She has been travelling to Antarctica on research visits for more than 30 years was a key researcher on an experiment examining the strength of sea ice as part of the Sea Ice and Southern Ocean Processes Programme in 1985. The research scientifically supported the use of sea ice runways for large aircraft, a vital aspect of New Zealand Antarctic operations.
Posthumous: Andrew Leachman was a master mariner with more than 55 years of seagoing experience and was regarded as one of the most respected Antarctic navigators.. He was one of two masters of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries vessel James Cook from 1973-91 and then master of the National institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) vessel Tangaroa from 1995-2010.
