Jon Mayson says he has no idea why he received a business award on Friday night; he didn't enter and he was ‘conned' into attending.

'It was a total surprise,” says Jon.

'Sally Morrison from the Acorn Foundation pleaded with Bev (Jon's wife) and I to come along.

'There were seats at the Acorn table and it needed to be filled – so we thought. I was a very reluctant attendee and I was taken there under duress.”

Jon is a previous judge of the Westpac Business Awards and was part of the panel that presented the first excellence in business leadership award to Sally Morrison about four years ago, and to Warren Banks and Bill Holland.

'I haven't judged it for a couple of years so I have since been right out of it,” says Jon. 'In fact I was inveigled to the event.”

Winning the award on Friday night was a total shock says Jon.

'For the first time in my life I was lost for words. It was a very emotional experience and I could hardly speak. I was told afterwards I got a standing ovation, but I was totally unaware of it. I felt totally out of my comfort zone.”

Having said that, Jon says it is an honour to be acknowledged by the Tauranga business community.

If he had been able to say all the things he felt he should have said, Jon says he would have said the award for excellence in business leadership is an acknowledgement of the all the great people he has worked with over the years.

The award is a large brass engraved koro, and a certificate, which will join the others on Jon's office wall.

Jon was Port of Tauranga chief executive officer from 1997 to 2005, and is currently the New Zealand Trade and Enterprise chair. He is a past president of Export New Zealand and a consultant on ports privatisation and transport logistics.

Neither head judge Allan McFall or Westpac Tauranga Business Awards coordinator Anne Pankhurst could be contacted on Monday afternoon.