To be a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
BECK, Mr Peter Joseph
For services to the aerospace industry, business and education
Mr Peter Beck has been founder and CEO of Rocket Lab since 2006, which designs, builds and launches advanced rockets and satellites, pioneering an industry previously non-existent in New Zealand.
Mr Beck has led Rocket Lab to become a highly successful, award-winning business, engaged with STEM education, and as a widely connected and recognised leader within global aerospace. Rocket Lab’s Ātea 1 became the first rocket in the Southern Hemisphere to reach space in 2009. Rocket Lab employs 1,800 people globally, with 750 New Zealand employees, and is the most prolific commercial launch provider behind only SpaceX, launching 46 missions to space including NASA’s 2022 lunar CAPSTONE mission, and more than 160 satellites to orbit as of April 2024. These satellites have enabled scientific and climate monitoring for NASA, national security for international governments, school and university research, and commercial innovations. The Electron rocket, first launched in 2017, achieved several world-firsts including materials used, and allows frequent launch at a dramatically reduced cost to other commercially available dedicated launch options. He has been pivotal in growing New Zealand’s $1.69 billion space industry, which as of 2019 supported around 12,000 jobs nationally, both directly and indirectly. Mr Beck was the driving force behind a Technology Safeguards Agreement between New Zealand and the United States, enabling the use and secure management of sensitive US space launch and satellite technology in New Zealand.
To be a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
HUNTER, Professor Peter John, MNZM
For services to medical science
Professor Peter Hunter is a world-leading pioneer in bioengineering research and innovation, particularly the computer modelling of human organs, and has served on numerous international scientific organisations in high executive offices.
Professor Hunter established and has led the Physiome Project, an international collaborative project to measure and mathematically model all aspects of physiology in the human body. He established the Auckland Bioengineering Institute in 2001 and has been director since inception, overseeing its growth into a key clinical and medtech partner in New Zealand. He chaired the Physiome and Bioengineering commission of the International Union of Physiological Sciences (IUPS) from 1998 to 2008 and was Vice President of IUPS on two occasions, most recently from 2017 to 2021. He chaired the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering from 2015 to 2018 and the Executive Committee of the World Council of Biomechanics from 2018 to 2022. He is currently President of the Virtual Physiological Human Institute. Nationally he has been a member of AgResearch’s Science Advisory Panel and chaired the Royal Society of New Zealand’s panel reviewing the New Zealand Research System in 2014/2015. He has held numerous national and international appointments and advisory board roles. Professor Hunter led a successful bid for a new Medical Technologies Centre of Research Excellence in New Zealand and was its founding director from 2015 to 2017.
HONOURS
Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, New Year 2010