Bay man gains top honour

Former Bay of Plenty businessman Mark Wilson has been named the United Kingdom's New Zealander of the Year 2016 at the New Zealand Society's Waitangi Day Charity Ball.

The award recognises the outstanding contribution a New Zealand, or British, national has made in promoting the interests of New Zealand or New Zealanders in the United Kingdom.


Former Rotorua businessman Mark Wilson (fourth from left). Photo: Supplied.

Mark is the group chief executive of the United Kingdom's largest insurance company – Aviva.

He is a global business leader and champion of sustainable business and received this year's award in recognition of his outstanding contribution to leading global discussion on how businesses can create a lasting legacy.

Robyn Allardice-Bourne, President of the New Zealand Society (UK) says it is with great pride that the New Zealand Society (UK) in association with Air New Zealand, presents Mark with the award.

'Mark is an outstanding individual not only in his business endeavours but in his vocal support of several initiatives focused on how business can make a positive and lasting impact on society. Rarely, do you find an individual with such passion and energy to make positive change for the benefit of us all.”

The former Rotorua man leads debates on how to mobilise the $300 trillion of capital in the financial markets to achieve the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.

Mark was born in Rotorua in 1966 and attended the University of Waikato on an economic scholarship. He is a turnaround specialist, building his reputation by fixing underperforming large global businesses. He is also a founding partner of Tauranga security firm Watchdog Security.

After beginning his career in New Zealand he spent 14 years in Asia, ending as chief executive of Asian insurance giant, AIA. With the collapse of AIA's US parent, AIG, in the global financial crisis, Mark restructured the company, leading to one of the largest IPOs in corporate history.

Mark joined Aviva as Group chief executive at the start of 2013. Aviva can trace its history back to 1696 and is an iconic British company. But before Mark joined, it was struggling, under his leadership it has refocused and rebuilt its financial strength.

The chief executive led Aviva's £6 billion acquisition of Friends Life Group in 2015, the largest deal in the UK insurance sector for 15 years. Aviva is now a UK Top 30 Company, operating in 16 countries with 34 million customers.

He is a key commentator on the role of business in society, especially how companies must create a sustainable, long-term legacy - what he calls "being a good ancestor".

He accompanied the British Prime Minister on a trade mission to Asia in July 2015, strengthening the ties between the UK and New Zealand and in October 2015, in an unprecedented move, he was invited to address the United Nations General Assembly on business expectations for the UN's Global Sustainability Goals for the next 15 years, the only global business leader to have done so.

Previous winners have included: Katherine Corich, Eric Tracey, Bronwen Horton, Kent Gardner, Terry Smith, Anna Hansen MBE, Esther Kerr Jessop QSM, Dr Ian Conrich, Jonathan Rennie, Tom & Susan Glynn, Peter Leslie, Dame Judith Mayhew Jones, Don McKinnon, Michael Campbell CNZM, Sir Mark Todd and Peter Gordon ONZM.

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