King’s Birthday honour for services to business

Deb Gilbertson, a member of the Hutt City Bahá’í community, has been appointed as a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the King's Birthday Honours. The Spiritual Assembly of Hutt City wrote to the National Spiritual Assembly that they were very proud to hear of the honour conferred on Ms Gilbertson.

The Local Spiritual Assembly writes: “Deb has been part of the Bahá’í Community for many years and has been involved in many projects which benefit the community, including the Race Unity Speech Awards.”

The official citation reads:

Ms Deb Gilbertson has been contributing to the science and technology sectors for more than 40 years.

Ms Gilbertson established Te Kaihau Education Trust in 2006, a consultancy which grows leaders to innovate for a better world. Through Te Kaihau, she was awarded a United Nation’s Alliance of Civilizations award for her ‘Global Enterprise Experience’ contest, for its impact on fostering cross-culturalism, peer-leadership and social entrepreneurship in 120 countries. She founded the Emergent Māori Women’s Leadership Programme and the Women in Agriculture Network, which achieved a membership of 10,000 in its first decade of operation. She designed and ran the National Venture Capital Industry Development Workshop in 1986, which led to significant policy changes and an increase in number of venture capital organisations. She co-founded and was a member of the Wellington Venture Capital Association board and was a member of Te Ao Kotahi Trust board which promotes social and economic development. She established and was a member of the Innovative Technologies Programme board and the Chair of DSIR’s Science and Technological Advisory Council. Ms Gilbertson was a member of the Lincoln University’s Agricultural Economics Research Unit, through which she developed and ran a National Goat Industry Development workshop, which generated $5 million support for the industry.