Professor Shadbolt has been made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
Massey University Professor in Farm and Agribusiness Management Nicola Shadbolt was among two staff and 14 alumni recipients of this year's Queen's Birthday Honours.
Professor Shadbolt, from the School of Agriculture and Environment, was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) for services to agribusiness.
Specialising in farm and agribusiness management, Professor Shadbolt has left her mark in research and education, as well as having a range of governance roles, including her appointment as the first elected woman board member at Fonterra.
She has been contracted by both the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the European Union for research and workshops and is frequently invited to speak at international conferences on strategic issues in agribusiness.
Her strategic perspective on global agribusiness has served many organisations around New Zealand, but she also walks the walk. Professor Shadbolt has built up her own farming business with her husband from scratch into a $27 million combination of five equity partnerships, including dairy, sheep, beef, deer and forestry. She is also a Massey alumna, graduating with a Diploma in Business Studies in 2014.
Former staff member Associate Professor Mike O’Brien, who completed his PhD in social sciences at Massey in 1992, was also made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to social policy and education.
The highest honour went to former Minister of Pacific Island Affairs Winnie Laban (Postgraduate Diploma in Development Studies 1999), who was made a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to education and the Pacific community.
Former Hospice Waikato chief executive Elizabeth Bang, of Hamilton, who graduated with a Diploma in Health Administration in 1989, was made a Companion of the New Zealand of Merit for services to health, women and the community.
Sheran Hancock, who works as a Performance-Based Research Fund assistant in the University’s Research and Enterprise team, was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for services to pipe bands.
Other Massey recipients of the ONZM are Dallas Fisher, of Hamilton (Bachelor of Business Studies 1987), for services to business, philanthropy and sport, and Caren Rangi, of Napier (Bachelor of Business Studies 1993), for services to the Pacific community and governance.
Other Massey recipients of the MNZM are Di Daniels, of Paraparaumu (Diploma in Teaching 1974), for services to digital literacy education; Dorothy McCarrison, of Auckland, (Graduate Diploma in Education 1983) for services to counselling and restorative justice; Anne Scott, of Wellington (Bachelor of Arts 1978), for services to quilting; Lesley Stanley, of Tauranga (Diploma in Education 1979), for services to education and the support of children; and Darryl Suasua, of Auckland (Bachelor of Education 2016), for services to rugby.
Massey recipients of the Queen’s Service Medals are Linda Conning, of Ohope (Master of Resource and Environmental Planning 2010), for services to conservation; Roger Cox, of Hamilton (Master of Science 1974), for services to science education; Mary MacKintosh, of Kaiapoi (Bachelor of Arts 1972), for services to the community; and Dr Carolyn Peters, of Whangarei (Bachelor of Arts 1996), for services to the community.