A host of high achievers from the Bay of Plenty and Lakes regions have been named in the New Year 2026 Honours List. They are listed below with information from their citations. In the coming days, we will publish further stories from interviews with some of the honorees.

Tauranga

Shirley Gail Hooper: officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to netball and artistic swimming

Pāpāmoa’s Shirley Hooper has contributed to netball for more than 50 years as a player, umpire, sponsor, broadcaster, board member and chairperson.

Since 2007, she has held key leadership roles including chair of Netball Auckland-Waitākere, Greater Auckland Netball (owner of the Northern Mystics), and Trans-Tasman Netball Ltd, which oversaw the ANZ Championship.

From 2009 to 2018, she was a director on the Netball New Zealand board, chairing the finance, audit and risk committee from 2016.

She has been a director of World Netball since 2017, serving as chair of the commercial committee and a member of the Foundation Strategy Group.

Shirley Hooper pictured in 2021. Photo / Michael Bradley

In 2021, she was elected vice-president of World Netball, placing her at the forefront of global efforts to grow the sport across 75 countries and more than 20 million participants.

She has also been heavily involved in artistic swimming. She was the Tauranga Synchro Club chair until 2011, when she became Artistic Swimming New Zealand chair until 2023.

She has championed the sport’s growth, inclusivity, and visibility, and her leadership has been instrumental in lifting professional standards in the sport.

Hooper was made a Life Member of Netball New Zealand and Artistic Swimming New Zealand in 2022.

Professor Dr Jens Helmut Friedrich Mueller, MNZM: officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to education

Professor Dr Jens Mueller was appointed a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2015 for his services to business and education.

Since 2015, Mueller has continued to contribute to promoting New Zealand education overseas. He chairs the Education Counsellor Authority of New Zealand - a new entity to license and upskill overseas education counsellors who recruit international students to New Zealand.

He created this initiative after Education New Zealand stopped its agent credentialling programme in 2023. He also identified a gap for immigration advice at tertiary institutions, to help overseas students selecting New Zealand as study location, and became a qualified immigration adviser.

Professor Dr Jens Mueller has been appointed an officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the New Year Honours, for services to education. Photo / David Hall

He created the Licensed Immigration Adviser Association, now with 600 members.

At the Royal Society Te Aparangi, he has been a professional member since 2014 and served as a councillor and chair of their audit, risk and investment committee for four years.

Professor Mueller has continued his involvement on the Pukehinahina Trust board since 2013, helping to secure funding, architectural planning and land donations for the establishment of New Zealand’s first iwi-led historical education centre, the National Māori Land War Museum project in Tauranga.

Tenby George Bolland Powell: Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to business, governance and humanitarian aid

Tenby Powell has made a substantial contribution to businesses and not-for-profits since the late 1990s.

The former Tauranga mayor held numerous New Zealand and international board positions and contributed to a generation of jobs and economic growth.

His varied directorships over the years have included Waikato Link, Aldera, Antarctica New Zealand, Hirepool Equipment Rental Group, The Icehouse, and the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust.

In 2011, he founded the New Zealand SME Business Network to provide support and a collective voice for small business owners, helping to influence national policies.

From 2012 to 2017, he convened the Government’s Small Business Development Group, before chairing the Government’s Small Business Council until 2019.

He was appointed to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) from 2016 to 2019, co-chairing the ABAC Digital and Innovation Working Group and the ABAC Small and Medium Enterprise Working Group.

He was Tauranga mayor from 2019 to 2020.

Tenby Powell founded charity organisation Kiwi K.A.R.E in 2022. Photo / Alex Cairns

In 2022, Powell founded charity organisation Kiwi K.A.R.E, which helped bring essential aid and evacuation services to the people of Ukraine, operating exclusively in Red Zones.

To date, Kiwi K.A.R.E has raised about $7m and made a humanitarian impact of $60.1m through, among other things, 600 aid missions and 4500 evacuations.

Katharine (Kate) Eleanor Milford: member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to people with aphasia

Kate Milford has been the single driving force behind the creation, development and governance of Aphasia New Zealand Charitable Trust since 2007.

AphasiaNZ is New Zealand’s national organisation supporting those with aphasia - a language disorder resulting from brain injury.

While working as a community speech and language therapist in Auckland, Milford worked with people living with aphasia and their families and instigated the formation of what would develop into AphasiaNZ in 2012.

She remained involved as trustee and secretary. She was key to organising a biennial international conference at various locations around the country, attracting practitioners and academics working in and researching aphasia to share knowledge.

She devised a range of innovative services and programmes, including leading a unique New Zealand-wide team and network of community aphasia advisers, who work within their regions offering individualised support, education and advocacy.

Other programmes included informal peer-led support groups, educational resources and online training, and a device loan scheme for therapy exercises.

Milford’s work and reputation attached a high calibre of committee directors, trustees and speech therapists to support the trust.

Rotorua

Leith Pirika Comer, QSO: companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Māori, governance and education

Leith Comer (Te Arawa - Ngāti Rangitihi, Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Māmoe, Ngāti Pāhauwera) was appointed a companion of the Queen’s Service Order in 2018 for his service to Māori, the State, and local government.

Comer is chair of his iwi, Ngāti Rangitihi, leading negotiations culminating in their Treaty settlement in 2022.

He was appointed chair of the Tarawera Awa Restoration Strategy Group, established under the settlement.

He served as a member of the Ngāti Rangitihi, Ngāti Tarāwhai, and Tuhourangi Iwi Consortium, advancing iwi-led tourism opportunities at Tarawera.

Leith Comer pictured in 2019. Photo / Stephen Parker

He served as an inaugural trustee of the Fallen Heroes Trust and chair of the Veterans’ Affairs Board from 2018 to 2024.

He is a member of the Te Arawa Returned Services League.

His broader governance and community roles include membership of the Te Arawa Wallaby Kahui, Rotorua Area Primary Health Services Board, Te Arawa Emergency Housing initiative, Rotorua Golf Club chair, member of the New Zealand Parole Board from 2014 to 2021, and of the Oranga Tamariki Chief Executive’s Complaints Panel.

He is an advocate for regional and Māori economic empowerment, contributing to research on place-based learning and tertiary education equity across New Zealand.

Comer serves as a community adviser, guiding the re-establishment of Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology as a viable, stand-alone polytechnic.

Jane Frances Eynon-Richards, JP: member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the community

Jane Eynon-Richards has been the Rotorua Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) manager since 2003.

She helped to establish Rotorua as one of the country’s largest and busiest CAB offices and leads more than 60 volunteers.

Eynon-Richards is instrumental in applying and advocating for necessary funding from charitable trusts, Rotorua Lakes Council and local businesses.

She contributed to the development of CAB training at a national level and implemented many innovative initiatives.

She is a key contact for CAB for media.

Rotorua Citizens Advice Bureau manager Jane Eynon-Richards pictured in 2023. Photo / Laura Smith

During the Covid-19 lockdowns, she organised to have calls redirected and arranged for a roster of CAB volunteers to assist callers.

After losing her brother to motor neurone disease, she worked with Motor Neurone Disease New Zealand to organise charity walks since 2022, attracting hundreds of participants, local media coverage and significant donations.

She has been a trustee and chair of St Mary’s Primary School board and deputy chair of John Paul College board.

A Justice of the Peace since 2004, she has served as a member of the Rotorua JP Council, the Rotorua District Licensing Agency Committee from 2017 to 2024, and as a community representative on the Geyser Foundation Advisory Committee.

Jennifer Louise Nahu (Jenny): member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to rugby league

Jenny Nahu has been involved with rugby league since the 1960s, influencing the culture and sustainability of the sport in Rotorua and Bay of Plenty.

Nahu has held executive roles with the Ngongotahā Rugby League Club for 55 years and Bay of Plenty District Rugby League for 40 years.

She helped persuade Rotorua District Council to develop six fields of new rugby league grounds.

Nahu secured the first club base in the Rotorua community for rugby league some 10 years later, a facility also used by several other community organisations.

Rotorua's Jenny Nahu has been involved with rugby league since the 1960s. Photo / Kelly Makiha

She led the transformation of Puketāwhero Park into the central hub for rugby league in Rotorua, including project management and building development.

Nahu was involved with the relocation of the Carlaw Park administration building, gifted by Auckland Rugby League and then transported to Puketāwhero Park in Rotorua.

She continues to serve as the park’s property manager. She has established rugby league as a vehicle for mentorship, youth engagement and community pride, nurturing generations of young people on and off the field, particularly Māori and Pacific youth.

Nahu is a Life Member of the Ngongotahā and Bay of Plenty Rugby League Clubs.

Elizabeth (Libby) Mary Fletcher: King’s Service Medal for services to the community, particularly wastewater advocacy

Libby Fletcher has advocated tirelessly for the Lake Tarawera community and the wider Bay of Plenty.

In 2013, she became the Lake Tarawera Ratepayers’ Association chair and held the position until 2025.

Under her leadership the organisation accomplished several significant milestones, including establishing active volunteer environmental groups and taking pest control under the umbrella of Lake Tarawera Landcare.

She supported the University of Waikato’s research into water inputs and quality.

Fletcher has been integral to securing critical infrastructure, actively championing the reticulation of local wastewater following results from a longitudinal study that linked leaching septic tanks with Lake Tarawera’s decline in water quality.

She demonstrated her ability to bring people together, ensuring the final approval of the Tarawera Sewerage Scheme, building and maintaining relationships with mana whenua Te Pūtaiki o Tarawera, the Rotorua Lakes Council and the Bay of Plenty Regional Council, and relevant members of Parliament.

As a result of her work, the lake water quality is protected for generations to come.

She previously chaired the Laura Fergusson Trust Board.

Dr Leonie Kaye Sinclair: King’s Service Medal for services to health

Dr Leonie Sinclair has been a general practitioner in Rotorua, growing her practice since 1981 to more than 2300 patients, before gifting the practice on to ensure continuation of quality care upon her retirement in 2025.

Sinclair chaired the establishment of a standalone after-hours Accident and Emergency and medical facility involving every GP in Rotorua, which opened as Lakes PrimeCare in 1993 in a purpose-built facility.

She played a vital role in coordinating specialists and GPs to commit to the proposal of this centralised medical facility and remained chair until 2007.

She served on the Independent Practitioner Association and Rotorua Area Primary Health Services Limited (RAPHS) from 2000 to 2019, including as chair for seven years.

She represented RAPHS in primary health-related contract negotiations with regional and local district health boards. While on the RAPHS board, she helped establish a scholarship to support local school leavers to attend medical or nursing school.

As chair, Sinclair oversaw establishment of community-based nursing and pharmacy outreach services to support patients with vulnerable needs, and then the consolidating of these services into Koiora Community Hub.

The hub now supports thousands of patients and won the New Zealand Pharmacy Professional Service of the Year award in 2017.

Whakatāne

Mark Joseph (Joe) Harawira: companion of the King’s Service Order for services to Māori education, arts and conservation

Joe Harawira (Ngāti Awa, Ngai Te Rangi, Ngāti Maniapoto, Tūhourangi) has advanced te ao Māori through education, performing arts, conservation and public service for more than 45 years.

Harawira started teaching in Māori language immersion schools and later supported the development of bilingual and Kaupapa Māori education across the Waikato region.

As kaumātua and organiser of Mataatua Mokopapa wānanga through Te Ahi Mānuka, he has been instrumental in the reclamation of tā moko as a tool for identity and intergenerational connection.

He led Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato’s kapa haka from 1977 to 2008, was a head judge at Te Matatini, and chairs He Awhi Tikanga Committee for Toi Māori Aotearoa.

He has chaired Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa through major events including the Covid-19 response, the Whakaari White Island eruption, and large-scale regional development projects.

Joe Harawira pictured in 2021. Photo / Ted Koopu

As Pou Tairangahau from 2000 to 2010, he was the interface between the Department of Conservation (DoC) and its Treaty partners.

With the Kahui Kaupapa Atawhai team in Wellington since 2010, he has led the integration of mātauranga into DOC’s work and supported development of te reo Māori strategy, policy and practice.

He was instrumental in the reopening of Māori boys’ boarding school St Stephen’s, and was the Kāhui Māori Pou Tikanga for Sustainable Seas.

Harawira has appeared in global storytelling festivals and Māori language media productions.

Taupō

Anneke Jacoba Dinnington: King’s Service Medal for services to seniors and the community

Anneke Dinnington has contributed to the Taupō community through leadership roles at Age Concern and Citizens Advice Bureau.

While manager at Age Concern Taupō from 1992 to 2004, Dinnington was the public face of the organisation, advocating for seniors locally and nationally.

She was crucial to the Taupō Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB), where she was manager/coordinator for 18 years.

In this role, she proved to be a highly successful fundraiser, taking responsibility for raising the necessary funds to ensure the CAB ran effectively.

She has been an active volunteer for many services, allowing her to be a conduit between the community and Taupō District Council.

Citizens Advice Bureau Taupō manager Anneke Dinnington pictured in 2015 with one of the bureau’s visitors. Photo / Laurilee McMichael

She was a member of the Daycare Centre for the Elderly and Disabled Trust, the Waiora Community Trust Funding Distribution Committee and the Community Organisations Grants Scheme Tongariro Distribution.

She has built close working relationships with other community support groups, including Waiora House, The Foodbank and Interfaith Welfare.

She served on the Board of Te Whare o Manaaki Trust, assisting newly released prisoners into employment and accommodation.

Dinnington was appointed to the Taupō District Council Community Grants Committee in 2024 to decide on applications for financial assistance under its Communities Scheme.