King’s Birthday Honours 2026: Waikato community stalwarts get royal accolades

Hassall was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2021, but her contributions to the sector had since expanded, the citation said.

She was headmaster of Hamilton Boys’ High School (HBHS) from 1999 until 2024, overseeing many significant academic and sporting successes and the growth of the school.

Hassall has also been on the University of Waikato Council since 2016 and was appointed chancellor in 2025.

She contributed to the signing of a kawenata (charter) between Waikato-Tainui and the University of Waikato in 2025, setting a foundation for how they will work together on programmes supporting their strategic objectives.

She is the chairwoman of Hospice Waikato Trust and became deputy chairwoman of Momentum Waikato this year, supporting community development projects and charities.

David Ellis, of Ngaruawahia, has been made aKnight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to the thoroughbred industry and philanthropy.

He is the principal of Te Akau Stud and Racing Stables in New Zealand, with stables in Matamata, Christchurch, Melbourne and formerly Singapore.

He was inducted into the New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame in 2025, recognised as one of the most influential figures in New Zealand thoroughbred racing, breeding and rural enterprise.

Te Akau Racing has won multiple champion stable titles and more than 100 Group 1 races.

He has sustained the New Zealand breeding industry with a record-setting investment of more than $150 million at Karaka yearling sales, as a leading buyer over 20 years.

Te Akau has remained in the top 15 owners globally in the TRC Global Owners Rankings, rising to No 7 in the world in 2025.

He has developed world-class talent in racing managers, trainers and jockeys who have gone on to international success.

Ellis has financially supported numerous local and national clubs, charities and organisations across a breadth of causes from animal welfare to health and education, funded disaster relief, and is a significant sponsor of the racing industry.

Waikato has at least two Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM).

Geoffrey Maber, formerly of Morrinsville, has received the honour for his services to agribusiness.

Maber is most known for his role as owner, chief executive and chairman of Power Farming Group.

He has contributed to the agribusiness sector for more than 50 years.

Under his leadership, Power Farming Group has expanded from a small family business to become the largest privately owned tractor and farm machinery business in the Southern Hemisphere.

The group generates $600 million annually, and employs 500 people in New Zealand, Australia and North America.

He has supported the Waikato region through philanthropic contributions, including the funding of the Alumni Sports Pavilion at Southwell School.

Ken Williamson, of Hamilton, received the honour for hisservices to governance and the community.

Williamson is a business mentor and long-serving volunteer.

He has been actively involved in the Order of St John since 1969, serving as the chairman of its central region, a governor of its Priory Board, and currently serving its Priory Chapter.

In 2013, he became the founding chair of the Momentum Waikato Community Foundation and is currently a founding trustee of the Waikato Regional Property Trust.

He has held or has current governance roles with many organisations, including Sky City Trust, Midland Sexual Support Services Trust, the Waikato Chiefs, Magic Netball, and Peak Indoor Sports Centre.

He has had a longstanding involvement supporting Te Whakaruruhau Waikato Women’s Refuge and the McKenzie Centre for children with special needs.

He is a fellow of the Insurance Brokers Corporation of New Zealand and became a distinguished fellow of the Institute of Directors in 2022.

He recently became a trustee of Trust Waikato, and in 2024 was appointed a member of the Waitangi Tribunal.

Williamson chaired the re-establishment of Wintec and is now its deputy chairman.

At least eight new Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZMs) have a Waikato connection.

Dr Luk Chin, of Cambridge, received the honour forservices to health and harness racing.

Chin has helped expand private health services in the Waikato region and contributed more than 50 years as an anaesthetist, pain and intensive care specialist.

He practised as an anaesthetist at Waikato Hospital until he was aged 75, and is currently still active in pain management.

He helped establish Waikato Hospital’s intensive care unit and pain service in 1975, at the time only the second in the country.

In 1991, he co-led the development of the Anglesea Medical Centre in Hamilton, Waikato’s first same-day surgical unit, now operating as an elective surgical hospital.

He has since contributed significantly to the establishment of further private healthcare facilities in the region, including in Tauranga, Cambridge, and the Franklin Day Hospital in Pukekohe.

At 83 years of age, he is New Zealand’s oldest licensed harness racing trainer and driver, racing weekly and supporting junior drivers in the racing industry.

Since 1980, he has trained horses to win more than 200 races, breeding them all rather than purchasing the horses, and has been a winning driver more than 100 times.

Dr Rachael Griffiths-Hughes, of Hamilton, was named an MNZM for her services to music.

Griffiths-Hughes lectures in music at the University of Waikato, where she also directs the University Chamber Choir, and has been director of music at St Peter’s Cathedral in Hamilton since 2000.

Griffiths-Hughes was conductor and musical director of the Hamilton Civic Choir from 2000 to 2014 and has been a trustee of the Hamilton Civic Choir Foundation since 2018 and chairwoman since 2023.

Since 2014, she has founded and directed Vox Baroque, a Hamilton group of instrumentalists and singers specialising in Baroque music.

She plays harpsichord and organ and has performed frequently in orchestral concerts, including with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

She has organised numerous ad hoc concerts in the Waikato region, arranging visiting musicians and performance venues.

Colin Groves, of Hamilton, was made an MNZM for his servicesto business, philanthropy and sport.

Groves arrived in New Zealand in 2009, involved with Tetra Laval Group’s acquisition of Downer McClunie Birch, which rapidly expanded from 30 to more than 200 employees.

As a chartered accountant, he has used his extensive corporate governance experience across the sports, technology, and agriculture sectors.

He has Cornish roots and facilitated a trade agreement between the Waikato and Cornwall Chambers of Commerce, strengthening international business ties.

He has been heavily involved in local sport governance, particularly rugby, league and cricket.

Associate Professor Mary Low, of Hamilton, received the recognition for herservices to accountancy education.

Low has dedicated more than 35 years to the profession and is an associate professor at Waikato University’s Management School, where she has held several roles, including head of school for Accounting, Finance and Economics.

She was instrumental in the establishment of Waikato University’s Master of Professional Accounting, helping the university gain national and international recognition.

She has built engagement between secondary schools and tertiary education by co-ordinating high school teacher training days, student revision days and visits to the university.

She is an established international researcher and has contributed more than 50 scholarly outputs.

Her work on corporate social reporting and integrated reporting has shaped accounting practice and policy in New Zealand.

Dr Katrina Roberts, of Matamata, was made an MNZM for her services to the dairy industry and the community.

She has provided farm consultancy and veterinary services for more than 20 years and contributed significantly to the dairy industry in New Zealand through the co-development and implementation of heifer teat sealing, which formed part of her master’s research.

Her work has reduced heifer mastitis in herds across the country and reduced the need for antibiotic treatment by more than 50,000 cases a year.

She has continued her research and is undertaking pioneering work on the prevalence of subclinical milk fever.

Her contributions were recognised with the Fonterra Dairy Woman of the Year award in 2024.

She is also a member of the Walton School board of trustees, involved in coaching local sports, the Matamata Pony Club and Cambridge Riding for the Disabled.

Dr Udayangani Samarakkody, of Tamahere, was honoured as an MNZM for her services to paediatric surgery and the Sri Lankan community.

Samarakkody has worked for more than 30 years as a consultant paediatric surgeon and paediatric urologist at Waikato Hospital.

She was the president of the New Zealand Society of Paediatric Surgeons from 2010 to 2013 and is a member of the scientific committee of the Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Paediatric Surgeons.

Since 2005, she has been an instructor for the Australia and New Zealand Surgical Skills Education and Training course of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and has served on the education executive committee of the Waikato Clinical School.

She has trained more than 50 surgeons nationally and internationally and developed an extensive outreach service to New Zealand’s Midland health region, improving equity of surgical care for rural and Māori children.

She co-founded the Sri Lankan Doctors and Dentists Association in New Zealand in 2021 and is its co-chair. She has held several governance roles with the Sri Lanka Friendship Society Waikato since 1999.

Professor Marc Shaw, of Hamilton, received the MNZM accolade for his services to travel health.

Shaw was a key figure in establishing the specialisation of travel medicine in New Zealand and has been the only national specialist remaining in full-time practice for more than 30 years.

He is the medical director of New Zealand’s first travel-health service, Worldwise, established in 1993.

He has established seven clinics throughout New Zealand to provide advice for travellers both pre- and post-travel, and conduct research and development.

He expanded Worldwise in 1996 to include an educational service for other health professionals and has created links with overseas academic institutions, including Australia’s James Cook University.

He led a post-exposure rabies study in returning patients to New Zealand, contributing to future management of rabies vaccination procedures in travellers.

He also developed his capability by travelling to more than 120 countries, contributing to humanitarian aid and as a medical officer for remote expeditions.

Alan Simmons, of Tūrangi, is an MNZM for his services outdoor recreation.

He helped create ecotourism opportunities in New Zealand from the 1980s as one of the first professional hunting and fishing guides.

Simmons invested in the education of foreign tourists and in promoting and developing standards for protecting the environment and for professional guiding.

He was also appointed to help set up the New Zealand Fish and Game Council in 1990, joining the council until 2005.

He similarly helped set up the Eastern Fish and Game Council and was a member until 2024, chairing its fish committee.

Simmonds wrote a paper promoting the adoption of a United States programme to raise funds for wetland restoration through the introduction of a duck stamp.

This led to the establishment of the New Zealand Game Bird Habitat Stamp Regulations 1993.

He has served on numerous fishing organisations, including the New Zealand Recreational Fishing Council from 1989 to 1995, the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater Anglers since 1999 and the New Zealand Professional Fishing Guides Association.

Simmonds also participated in the Taupō Sports Fishery Review and published four books on hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation between 1987 and 2024.

Outside this involvement, he has been vice-president of the Wairarapa Art Club and Wairarapa Deer Stalkers Association, and a member of the Wellington Arts Council.

Waikato has at least six recipients of the King’s Service Medal (KSM).

Ros Corban (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Mutunga o Wharekauri), of Tokoroa, has received a KSM for her services to nursing.

Corban has been a nurse for more than 60 years and has spent over half of her career at Tokoroa Hospital.

She continues to work as a nurse at age 81 in her role as clinical nurse leader at Rangiura Aged Care Home in Putararu, which she helped transition to integrated digital software and digital medication administration.

Throughout her career, Corban held many roles, including ward charge nurse in paediatrics and night charge nurse in the accident and emergency department.

She oversaw the general and maternity wards and still provides palliative and end-of-life care to terminally ill family members, friends and others in her community, enabling patients to remain in their homes.

Corban visits her patients after they have been discharged to help with household tasks, arranges transport home from hospital, and provides food for former patients in hardship.

She has mentored and trained countless nurses, mentoring student nurses from Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology through practical placements.

She also supports international nurses with their applications to work in New Zealand.

Dianne and Selwyn June, of Hamilton, received the KSM for their services to wildlife conservation.

Dianne June (Ngāti Pāhauwera), with her husband, Selwyn, has dedicated more than 40 years to the conservation of New Zealand’s endemic wildlife.

The couple established the Waikato Hauraki Conservation Fund in 2021 to create a long-term source of funding for conservation work in the region and have been involved with the Pirongia Te Aroaro o Kahu Restoration Society (PRS) since the early 2000s.

They have held several offices with PRS and contributed to species protection projects.

Notably, with PRS they established predator control in an area of the Pureora Forest, vital to the continuation of the Okahukura project, which saw the successful reintroduction of kōkako to Mt Pirongia.

Since the project was established in 2015, they have organised multiple rat-baiting events annually, which have maintained pest levels in the area low enough to support kōkako breeding.

Their work has seen the kōkako population grow from 22 pairs in 2012 to more than 90 pairs now.

Since 2024, the Junes have expanded their predator control work to the nearby Pikiariki forest area, where they are co-ordinating work to protect the native bats and other endangered native species.

Jane Manson, of Hamilton, received the KSM for her services to the community.

She has contributed widely to her local community, primarily through involvement with St Stephen’s Church in Tamahere and the monthly Tamahere Country Market, which she founded in 2004.

The market attracts 20,000 visitors annually with more than 100 stallholders.

Since 2007, she has voluntarily served as a board member, and in 2019 was appointed chair, of Mahi Mihinare Anglican Action, where she works to assist vulnerable members of the community through social services and support.

She has been the church liaison on the Tamahere Community Committee since 2008 and helped establish two shelters for the local bus stops.

She led the Tamahere-Woodlands Heritage Committee, working with mana whenua to create a heritage board and a board explaining Māori history next to the Te Awa Cycleway underpass.

Brian Marcroft, of Ōhaupō, also received the KSM for his services to the community.

He has dedicated more than 60 years of voluntary service to the Ngāhinapōuri and surrounding districts, joining the Ngāhinapōuri Hall Society in 1964.

He oversaw the hall’s rebuild, fundraising and reconstruction, and continued to serve on the committee for many years after.

He has held a range of governance roles, including a committee member of Ngāhinapōuri Federated Farmers, serving on the its dairy committee for 35 years.

He was an inaugural member of the Waikato Deer Farmers Association and is a Life Member of Te Awamutu Vet Club.

His involvement in local sport includes 10 years as a committee member of Northern Districts’ Cricket, and he is a life member of the Ngāhinapōuri Golf Club, Cricket Club and Waikato Eagles Society.

Ralph Pitcher, ofWhangamatā, received the KSM for hisservices to Fire and Emergency New Zealand and the community.

He has served the Whangamatā community for more than 60 years, having been a volunteer firefighter since 1965 and still actively serving as part of the Whangamatā Fire Brigade today.

He assisted with major equipment and building changes and has mentored generations of firefighters.

He is a founding member, president, and committee member of the Moana House retirement home, where he was integral to the completion of the Wilson Wing Hospital and five low-cost housing cottages for pensioners.

He has served for more than 48 years with the Whangamatā Lions Club, including 15 years as president.

He was also a volunteer ambulance officer, and later became chair of St John’s Whangamatā Ambulance Service.

He was the president and a founding member of the Whangamatā Sports Centre and Squash Club and still volunteers as a Meals on Wheels driver.