2011

Dr Michael Stedman is Managing Director of National History New Zealand (NHNZ), a major global supplier to National Geographic Channels, whose documentaries have received over 200 international awards, including Emmy Awards and a prestigious Wildscreen Panda.

He has accrued over 30 years’ experience and held numerous senior positions in the television industry.

In honour of his achievements, Dr Michael was awarded the Screen Production & Development Association’s Industry Champion Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009, as well as named Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2004. 

Dame Anne Salmond is a distinguished Professor of Maori and Pacific history and anthropology at the University of Auckland. While serving as the Pro Vice Chancellor (Equal Opportunities), she sponsored the Starpath project, with the aim to enhance educational achievement for low income Maori and Pacific students.

She is also Vice President of the Royal Society of New Zealand and Chairperson of the Longbush Ecological Trust, an organisation dedicated to restoring the Waimata River in Gisborne with native plants and animals, and creating a place where people can enjoy ecological adventures.  

Dame Anne received the Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement in Non Fiction in 2004 and was named Fellow of the New Zealand Academy of the Humanities in 2007. She was also named Dame Commander of the British Empire for Services to New Zealand History in 1995; Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 1990; Foreign Associate of the American National Academy of Sciences for Excellence in Scientific Research; Fellow of the British Academy; and Commander of the Order of the British Empire for Services to Literature and the Maori people. 

Sam Morgan is best known as the Founder of TradeMe, New Zealand’s largest online auction site, which he sold to Fairfax in 2006. He is now an investor through his private investment group, Jasmine Investment Holdings, and a Director and/or advisor to a number of Kiwi start-ups including Vend and Xero.  

He is involved in several not-for-profit organisations including Medicine Mondiale and One Acre Fund. Jasmine is also focused on high-impact philanthropy.

In 2010, Sam was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the New Zealand Computer Society. 

Dame Judith Mayhew Jonas serves as Trustee of the Urban Land Institute, Trustee and Chairperson of the Redevelopment Committee of the Imperial War Museum, and Governor of Westminster School and Westminster Abbey Choir School. She was Special Adviser to the Chair of the world’s largest law firm, Clifford Chance.

Notably, Dame Judith was the first woman to be Chair of the Royal Opera House, and the first female Chair of the Policy and Resources Committee of the City of London Corporation.

In 2002, she was named Dame of the British Empire for services to the City of London and in 2004, she was named New Zealander of the Year in Britain.

Dr Howard Harper (1930 – 2011) was a pioneering medical missionary in Central Asia for 50 years. After qualifying as an ophthalmologist in the 1960s, he ran a number of eye camps in Pakistan before moving to Afghanistan where he established the Noor Eye Hospital in Kabul.

Following a military coup, he moved to Iran and trained eye surgeons, taught at Tehran University, and worked at a leprosy mission. In the 1980s.

Howard returned to England and founded Vision International, enabling him to continue his work in Central Asia. He also established a large eye hospital in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.  

In 2002, Dr Howard was the second foreigner to be granted Afghani citizenship and given a passport.

He is the recipient of the prestigious Augusta award from Auckland Grammar School and a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons.

Sir George Fistonich KNZM is the Founder and Owner of Villa Maria Estate Ltd, New Zealand’s leading wine award winner and exporter to over 50 countries.

In addition to founding Villa Maria at age 21 in 1961, Sir George opened New Zealand’s first licensed winery restaurant in 1979 at the Vidal Estate, setting the standard and leading the way for vineyard restaurants around the country.

He was knighted in 2009 for his services to the wine industry and he received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the International Wine Challenge Awards in London in 2011.