NEW ZEALANDER OF THE YEAR

 

2012 Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year Finalists

 

Dr Sharad Paul
Auckland

Dr Paul is a medical doctor who’s Skin Surgery Clinic gives free skin cancer checks every year and offers treatment for the fraction of the cost of other specialists. In 2010 he invented the first new skin graft technique for 100 years that cuts costs, pain and healing time for patients. He has also just developed the first skin cream range dedicated for brown skin. In addition to his medical achievements, he runs an award winning bookstore and uses all of its proceeds to fund literacy programs in low decile Auckland schools, with the aim of helping children to “dream with their eyes wide open”. In the words of his nominator, “he is one of the most inspiring, intelligent and compassionate men you are likely to meet”.

Sir Richard Taylor
Wellington
 
Richard Taylor is an extraordinary New Zealander. He has set a shining example by being a global player in the international movie industry, but decidedly choosing to base himself in New Zealand. His company Weta, is a huge success, employing well over 1000 people and will annual revenues in the 100s of millions per annum. But most importantly, Richard is a passionate and articulate New Zealander, committed to this country, and committed to showing New Zealanders that we can do it here. Let me quote "Why shouldn't it be us? We stay here firmly in Miramar, Wellington, New Zealand, first because we are New Zealanders and this is our home and I don't believe I would work in this sector, in this field, if I had to work somewhere else. This is where I want to work and you couldn't hope to work anywhere more fulfilling".

Richard is an intensely decent man. He is committed to his family. Despite his enormous list of Hollywood successes and multiple Oscars, the work he is most proud of is the TV series "Jane and the Dragon", whose message is "girls can do anything". He is humble and unassuming and yet passionate and articulate. He has a strong vision for New Zealand as a place of talent where we develop and earn from our own intellectual property.
For more about Richard read Sir Paul Callaghan’s (2011 New Zealander of the Year) interview with him in his book "Wool to Weta". The man is a legend who shows us all how it can be done while remaining true to our Kiwi values.

Dame Suzie Moncrieff
Nelson

Sculptor Suzie Moncrieff’s ingenious 1987 promotion of an art gallery in Nelson has grown to become one of the world’s most prestigious art and design competitions.

The World of Wearable Art™ is a theatrical spectacle for colour, music, dance and art that has migrated from walls to the moving human body. Each year this highlight of the New Zealand cultural calendar surprises amuses and astounds sell out audiences. It also promotes and showcases New Zealand to the world as a place of inspiration and creativity.

Suzie Moncrieff, the creative visionary and founder of this unique concept has dedicated the past 25 years to the realisation of her dream to make this an international arts competition celebrated right here in New Zealand. She has worked tirelessly to break down the barriers and make art accessible to all.

Alongside that she has focused on educating people on the importance of the quality of the work being ‘world class’ resulting in designers and artists from all around New Zealand and the globe entering. This combination of creativity and education has enhanced individuals self-belief and led them to create art works that have brought joy and inspiration to more than 250,000 people thought the world over the last 10 years.

The Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year 2012 winner will be announced at a public gala Awards event in Auckland on Thursday 16th February 2012.

2012 Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year Semi - Finalists

As the manager of Mother of Divine Mercy Refuge, one of the largest and busiest women’s refuge organisations in New Zealand, Susana has become mother to many hundreds of disadvantaged and abused children, young teenagers and their mothers; all of whom were victims of domestic violence.

Her service to the community has been extensive and is best encapsulated in the many services and groundbreaking programs that she has championed to eliminate the reoccurrence of domestic violence in families. In doing so, she has impacted on the lives, and future of several hundred families in Auckland.

The outcomes she has achieved from her work have been outstanding with many couples openly expressing their gratitude to Susana and her team at Mother Divine Mercy. She has helped heal broken hearts, broken lives and broken spirits.

Sir Peter Leitch QSM
Auckland

Sir Peter is known to all New Zealander’s as “The Mad Butcher”. It is through the adoption of this persona that he has been able to achieve personal success, and more importantly to him, help and inspire others. Peter Leitch was born dyslexic. He left school at 15. After some basic work experience he determined to become a butcher.
Moving from Wellington to Auckland he barely survived the early years but his work ethic saw him succeed. His reputation for generosity, honesty and diligence ensured his survival.

Sir Peter is a fundraising champion and involved in numerous charities donating a figure well into the millions having a nationwide affect. Family, sport and charity are his passions and despite ill health has never reneged or retreated from his commitments and has been an inspiration to many.

Dr Dave Jenkins
Gisborne

Dave founded humanitarian organisation Surf Aid International in 2000 to tackle the high death rate and illness in the remote Mentawai Islands, off Sumatra, Indonesia. Today Surf Aid is the New Zealand Government’s lead agency in health programmes and emergency response and recovery in the region, and Surf Aid has assisted in five earthquake and tsunami disasters since the Boxing day tsunami of 2044. For more information see the website http://www.surfaidinternational.org/.
 
Henare O’Keefe
Hastings

Henare’s experience of growing up in a lower socio-economic household stirred in him a deep commitment to uplifting and inspiring his community. Henare seeks to reverse negative social statistics and is dedicated to combating family violence; mentoring youth; and assisting in the reintegration of prisoners.

He has visited hundreds of schools as an ambassador for Duffy Books in Homes and also set up the U-Turn Academy (now called Youth to Men), a successful fifteen-week intensive course for troubled youth, which featured in the Lost Boys documentary screened on TV3.Henare has also worked against violence in the family and community through the New Zealand Police Youth Education Service (YES) to help parents keep their children safe. In 2008, he responded to violence against his own family by organising the Enough is Enough hikoi to galvanise community concern and action. Over three thousand people joined him on his march from Flaxmere to the centre of Hastings.

Henare, who is also a Justice of the Peace, was recognised in 2010, when he was awarded the Lloyd Morgan Lions Clubs Charitable Trust Honoured Membership - only the second time in its 30 year history to be given to a non-member.

Recently Henare featured on a Maori Television programme (Te Tuatangata) which demonstrated a comprehensive summary of the contributions he has made and the challenges he has faced. The Mayor of Hastings, Lawrence Yule says that “Henare’s mantra is what can I do to help others; he gives from his heart and commits all his time and energy to helping others.”

Dr Gareth Morgan
Wellington

Gareth Morgan is best known as an economist, portfolio investor, and public commentator. He is also a tireless philanthropist, activist and passionate New Zealander. Gareth has made a huge contribution of his time and money to projects in the public interest. He has tackled issues as diverse as New Zealand’s financial sector, climate change, tax and welfare reform, the health system, NZ’s fisheries, and Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic island—all with aim of challenging Kiwis to think critically about public policy and how it will affect future generations.

Through his Public Interest Publishing, Gareth runs research projects and publishes books intended to inform and challenge New Zealanders about issues critical to the country’s economic, environmental, political and social wellbeing. He stimulates an enormous amount of debate on these public interest issues. Without Gareth’s work, ordinary Kiwis would remain in the dark about some of the most important issues facing our country.

Gareth and his wife Joanne are UNICEF ambassadors. Their charitable foundation, set up in 2006 with the proceeds from the sale of Trade Me, supports philanthropic projects all around the globe. Gareth has an insatiable interest in New Zealand, and his work influences communities throughout the country. He does regular “Heartland” tours, speaking to crowds around New Zealand and donating the proceeds to local charities.

Most people would be satisfied to achieve a small fraction of what Gareth had achieved in his 58 years. Most people would find any of Gareth’s endeavours “too difficult”. Supporting the world’s poorest; crusading against multinational investment firms and established institutions; challenging government; researching and writing books to get Kiwis thinking critically about issues that directly impact on New Zealand; raising money for New Zealand charities; buying a truckload of fish for a stranded emperor penguin. The degree of difficulty in each of these endeavours is significant.

Professor Doug Sellman
Christchurch

Professor Sellman is a most highly regarded leader in the addiction and mental health fields of New Zealand. He established the National Addiction Centre within the University of Otago, Christchurch which has transformed the workforce development of professionals working with addicted people in the wider addiction and mental health treatment fields. He is also an internationally recognized addiction researcher and academic, while maintaining clinical practice as a psychiatrist in the New Zealand public health system.

He has spearheaded an evidence-based campaign to change the liquor laws in New Zealand and has travelled the length and breadth of the country working with others to promote effective solutions to the heavy drinking culture and to combat the commercial and political forces resisting such changes. He is passionate, committed and dedicated to fight for those unable to speak for themselves and is quite prepared to take unpopular stands if necessary to make a difference to the health of our Nation.

Professor Swee T Tan
Wellington

Professor Swee T Tan is a plastic surgeon who along with his team at Hutt Hospital has developed an effective way of shrinking and removing strawberry birthmarks. These are marks at birth which grow from almost nothing into tumours that can cover a larger part of a child’s face. Additionally, his discoveries and treatment for strawberry birthmarks could lead to new ways of treating cancer and other diseases. Professor Tan has also worked for many years to set up a research institute at Hutt Hospital, the Gillies McIndoe Research Institute. Adding to the impressiveness of his achievements is the fact that English is his second language, and he originally grew up in Malaysia with no formal education. He always dreamed of becoming a doctor and worked extremely hard to gain a position at Melbourne Medical School, subsequently leading to his first work position at Waikato Hospital. Despite the opportunity to work overseas for big money Professor Tan has remained dedicated to New Zealand and helping his fellow citizens.
 
Jo-Anne Wilkinson
North Shore

A passionate youth advocate and all round awesome person, Jo-anne Wilkinson is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Foundation for Youth Development (FYD), a key organisation in the field of youth development in New Zealand and one of the country’s most important social initiatives. FYD has been a 20-year, 24/7 adventure, based on Jo-anne’s belief that each and every New Zealand child deserves the opportunity to be the best that they can be; her vision is that positive youth development be part of the fabric of New Zealand society, as opposed to dealing with the fallout when young people go off the rails. Married to mountaineer Graeme Dingle, Jo-anne is also an avid outdoor adventurer and her achievements include a 1200 km sea kayak and mountain traverse, several Arctic journeys including a 4000km traverse of Alaska and the Bering Sea and a high altitude circumnavigation of the Cordillera Huayhuash in the Peruvian Andes.

Founded by Graeme & Jo-anne and originally backed by Sir Edmund Hilary with patron, Sir Paul Reeves, Project K has gone from strength to strength. At first working with just 48 young people each year, the Project K Trust has grown into the Foundation for Youth Development (FYD) and now works with over 18, 000 Kiwi kids each year through its programmes; Kiwi Can, Stars, Project K and MYND in over 20 regions across New Zealand. The programmes are run by licensed trusts, and the formulation of the licensing structure and manuals and systems to support it means that each region takes on its own flavour in terms of culture and values. This is also a significant challenge to manage, but ensures that the programmes are community driven. And the programmes work. Jo-anne ensured that research and evaluation was key from the get-go, allowing effectiveness to be measured, outcomes to be reported and tailoring to happen where needed.

Jo-anne Wilkinson is an advocate of holistic programmes that envelope young people from an early age right through to the end of high school and beyond, to ensure that there is support for those that need it as they make the transition from child, to adolescent, to adult.

It’s not easy to start a not-for-profit organisation from scratch and in the beginning Graeme volunteered full-time, while Jo-anne was their sole income-earner, working in law full time and volunteering part-time. Aside from the financial pressures, Jo-anne also had to break through the criticism and wariness of existing not-for-profits working in the youth sector. “It was a tough start,” she says, “it involved a lot of long hours and took real belief in what we wanted to achieve.

Jo-anne has been the Executive Director of FYD for 6 years, but over the last 16 years she has pretty much undertaken every role within the organisation, working countless unpaid hours to get the project going.
She has ensured that thousands of Kiwi kids have had the chance to realise their own potential, make good choices and contribute positively to the community