Awards celebrate outstanding Kiwis

Kea World Class New Zealand awards
Supreme Award winner Peter Gordon!

A chef, former All Whites captain, entrepreneurs, CEOs and a neuroscience researcher were among Kiwis lauded at Friday night's Kea World Class New Zealand awards.
Graphic / Herald

Supreme Award winner Peter Gordon

London-based internationally recognised chef Peter Gordon, a veteran in New Zealand’s hospitality industry who has founded restaurants here and overseas, took out the main Supreme Award for his outstanding and ongoing philanthropic efforts — including through the creation of annual culinary events held in New Zealand and Britain, in which proceeds are donated to various charities.

Gordon has raised more than $16 million in support of Leukaemia research in less than 20 years, much of this was raised through hosted dining events including “Who’s Cooking Dinner”.

Gordon, who is the head chef of Sky City restaurants The Sugar Club and Bellota and The Providores and Tapa Room in London, said it was “incredible” to receive the accolade.

“When they first contacted me and said ‘We’d like you to accept this award’ I kind of thought they had got the wrong email to be honest because I’ve seen what other previous winners have done to get that,” Gordon told the Weekend Herald.

Gordon has supported and made significant contributions to charities the Raukatauri Music Therapy Centre, the Restoration of Appearance and Function Trust, Leukaemia & Blood Cancer New Zealand and the New Zealand LAM Charitable Trust and Leuka.

He is the author of eight cookbooks and in 2009 was awarded an ONZM for his services to the food industry. Last year he designed and prepared a gala dinner for 900 people to celebrate former US President Barack Obama’s inaugural visit in Auckland.

Kea Global chief executive Craig Donaldson said Gordon “embodied what it meant to be a world class New Zealander”. “Not only is he an incredibly talented chef, but his ongoing commitment to his philanthropic endeavours shows an immense generosity of spirit,” Donaldson said.

Gordon credits his grandmother Molly for giving him a sense of charity and community, and for teaching him to bake.

Celebrity chef Peter Gordon, head chef of Sky City restaurant The Sugar Club. 
PHOTO / Babiche Martens

Friend of NZ award: Ric Kayne

American business leader and private equity investor Ric Kayne was named the 2019 Kea Friend of New Zealand award winner for his contributions to New Zealand society, the economy and the tourism sector.

Kayne established and developed Tara Iti golf course in Mangawhai, ranked as the sixth best outside of the US, which has been used by some of golfing’s greatest players. It was through Tara Iti that Kayne forged strong links with local iwi Nga¯ti Manuhiru and Te Uri o Hau and had created “significant education and employment opportunities” and driven tourism growth in the region, Kea Award judges said.

Judges said Kayne had contributed greatly to the growth of Auckland, Northland and greater New Zealand.

“I’m blessed to be able to contribute. We’re very proud of what’s been developed at Tara Iti, and the Award is truly heartwarming as evidence that our efforts have been appreciated,” Kayne said.

Kea Award: Tim Brown

Former All Whites captain turned businessman Tim Brown co-founded woollen shoe company All Birds with Joey Zwillinger in 2016. Fast forward four years the company has sold more than a million pairs of shoes and is one of the fastest-growing shoe companies in world.

Brown has been credited as the creative vision behind Allbirds, which earlier this year put itself on a journey to become carbon-neutral. The company wants to revolutionise the global footwear industry, which churns out an estimated 25 billion pairs of shoes each year.

Brown was vice-captain of New Zealand’s national football team competing in the Fifa World Cup before retiring from sport in 2010.

Kea Award: Fady Mishriki

Entrepreneur Fady Mishriki is the founder and former chief executive of technology company PowerbyProxi, which was acquired by Apple in 2017. Mishriki immigrated to New Zealand in 1998 and during his final years of school he met Kunal Bhargava. They would later work together on PowerbyProxi. While completing his studies at the University of Auckland he was infected by the entrepreneurial bug and founded PowerbyProxi, which develops wireless power products, in 2007.

Under Mishriki’s leadership PowerbyProxi became the world’s largest wireless power firm globally by revenue with over 500 patents to its name. Today, Mishriki is managing director of Apple’s Auckland technology centre.

Kea Award: Elizabeth Iorns

Dr Elizabeth Iorns is a globally recognised scientist and entrepreneur who is co-founder and president of Silicon Valley start-up Science Exchange, a marketplace for outsourced scientific research and development which links scientists with a network of scientific research institutions around the world.

Elizabeth and co-founder Dan Knox launched the platform in 2011 with the goal of making the impact of scientific discovery available to organisations. The company has been credited for transforming the global scientific research industry through greater connectivity and transparency.

Kea Award: Kirsten NevillManning

Nevill-Manning is a globally-recognised human resources professional with a passion for recruiting and building successful teams and business leaders.

She was previously director of international human resources at tech giant Facebook, tasked with supporting the company’s global expansion and recruitment of thousands of employees.

Nevill-Manning has also worked at Google leading the international expansion teams into New Zealand, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, and is vice-president of people operations, IT and facilities at New York-based online educational marketplace Teachers Pay Teachers.

NZ Herald
Whanganui Chronicle 22/6/19