To be a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
GERRARD, Professor Juliet Ann
For services to science
Professor Juliet Gerrard is a biochemist at the University of Auckland and was appointed as the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor, Kaitohutohu Mātanga Pūtaiao Matua ki te Pirimia in 2018.
Professor Gerrard joined the University of Canterbury in 1998, where she rose to full professor. She has been a professor in the School of Biological Sciences and School of Chemical Science at the University of Auckland since 2014. She was Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Science from 2016 to 2018 and held a Callaghan Innovation Industry and Outreach Fellowship from 2012 to 2016. She chaired the Royal Society of New Zealand’s Marsden Fund Council from 2012 to 2018. Since 2018 she has supported the science and science advisor community to provide advice to the Prime Minister, Ministers, and the public on a wide range of topics and events. Her research background is broad and interdisciplinary, with particular interests in fundamental and applied protein science. She has more than 175 publications, including three books. From 2015 to 2018, she founded and directed her own company Hi-Aspect, which produces protein nanofibres for medical and other uses. She was Director of New Zealand Institute of Plant and Food Research from 2013 to 2018. Professor Gerrard is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand, and Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and has received awards for her teaching.
To be a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
KIRO, Professor Cynthia Alcyion (Cindy)
For services to child wellbeing and education
Professor Cindy Kiro is an academic who has worked in roles focusing on improving life outcomes for children and young people who experience social marginalisation or exclusion.
Professor Kiro is the University of Auckland’s Pro Vice-Chancellor (Māori) and a Professor in the Faculty of Education and Social Work. In the past two years, she has led two critical developments, namely a formal te reo Māori policy and committing the University to a Te Tiriti policy. She was the Director of Star Path from 2013 to 2016, which was the country’s largest project to gather educational data from low decile Māori and Pacific schools. She was the Children’s Commissioner from 2003 to 2009. In this role, she instigated several enquiries into child deaths resulting from serious abuse and neglect. As a result, the Child Death Mortality and Family Violence Death Review Committees were established. She also established the Taskforce for Action on Family Violence, the largest ever response to family violence in New Zealand, which included 22 government department chief executives and a variety of other high profile public sector representatives. Professor Kiro chaired the Welfare Expert Advisory Group from 2018 to 2019, undertaking the task of recommending changes to the welfare system to make it more accessible and fair for all New Zealanders.
To be an Honorary Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
SNIVELY, Ms Suzanne Lee, ONZM
For services to governance
Ms Suzanne Snively has chaired the New Zealand chapter (TINZ) of the global organisation Transparency International (TI) since 2011.
Ms Snively has played a pivotal role in advocacy and leadership on matters of public and private sector integrity, accountability and good governance, and has been an effective advocate for anti-corruption mechanisms. She was project leader on two National Integrity System (NIS) assessments which have had positive influences on the New Zealand public sector and on anti-corruption law and policy approaches. She has led the Public Sector Leaders Integrity Forum and has also supported anti-corruption efforts across the Pacific. She chaired the Phase 1 and Phase 2 Independent Expert Advisory Panel Reviews of the Act of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. She has variously provided Board/Director governance or audit and risk governance on the New Zealand Army Leadership Board, the Ministry of Transport, Statistics New Zealand, the Ministry for the Environment, the Department of Conservation, the Whanau Ora Commissioning Agency (Te Pou Matakana), the Health Research Council, Superu, Whitireia and WelTec Polytechnics, Healthcare Otago and Wairarapa DHBs, and the Wellington City Council’s Capital Holdings. Ms Snively’s voluntary involvement over several decades has included time as Chair of the Women’s Refuge Foundation, the Mary Potter Hospice, and Fulbright New Zealand, and other roles with organisations including New Zealand Opera and the Alexander Turnbull Library Endowment Trust.
HONOURS
Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, Queen’s Birthday 2005
New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal 1993