The Waikato business community will gather in September to celebrate the latest laureates to be inducted into the Waikato Chamber of Commerce’s Business Hall of Fame.

Sir Robert Mahuta and Sir Dryden Spring are the newest members of this prestigious group which includes Bernie Crosby of Prolife Foods, Sir Patrick Hogan, members of the Gallagher family, the Mowbray family, and others.

First introduced in 2016, the Hall of Fame showcases achievers in the Waikato who have excelled nationally and internationally. Chamber CEO Don Good explained that the focus of the 2022 inductees was leaders who have been transformative.

“We are incredibly honoured to be inducting these two laureates into the Hall of Fame this year. The Waikato is a better place today because of the selfless service of both these men, and their families who supported them throughout their careers.

“Sir Robert was a transformational leader, one whose legacy has forever shaped the direction of our country. The Waikato business community still reveres Sir Robert and the legacy he left behind, and we are honoured that members of his family will be present to accept this posthumous induction.

“Sir Dryden is truly a homegrown hero of our country and an amazing example of what we can achieve when we turn our gaze outwards to the wider world. He was instrumental in building a high-tech industry with a global perspective that is still vitally important to our nation’s economy today.”

Sir Robert Mahuta was the director of Maori Studies and Research at the University of Waikato from 1972 to 1977, and served as a Treaty of Waitangi fisheries commissioner, chairman of the Maori Development Corporation and chairman of the Tainui Maori Trust Board. For his services to Maori, he was appointed a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 1996.

Sir Dryden Spring’s name is synonymous with New Zealand’s dairy industry. He was chairman of the New Zealand Dairy Board from 1989 to 1998, and of the New Zealand Dairy Group from 1982 to 1987, as well as chairman of ANZ New Zealand from 2007 to 2012. He was also a member of the APEC Eminent Persons Group. His achievements in the dairy industry and service to New Zealand were recognised with a Knight Bachelor in 1994.

Former inductees to the Waikato Business Hall of Fame include Brian Perry and Bernie Crosby (2016), Bill Gallagher Snr and Sir Patrick Hogan (2017), Mary Jane Innes and the Mowbray Family of Zuru Toys (2018), the New Zealand National Fieldays Society (2019), and Arthur Porter and the Gallagher Brothers, Sir William and John Gallagher (2020).

Normally part of the Waikato Chamber of Commerce’s Business Awards, this year the Business Hall of Fame induction will be held as a separate event. The gala dinner will take place on Friday, September 2 at the Atrium on Wintec’s city campus. Tickets to this black-tie event will be available soon on the Chamber’s website: www.waikatochamber.co.nz/business-hall-of-fame.

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