Living Laureates:
- Bill Buckley CNZM • Dame Trelise Cooper • Alan Gibbs • Graeme & Craig Turner
Posthumous:
- James Dilworth (1815-1894) • Elspeth Kennedy, QSO, MBE (1931-2017) • Tony Nightingale (1939-2003) • Sir Russell Matthews, OBE (1896-1987)
Six Auckland business leaders are to be inducted to the 2018 New Zealand Business Hall of Fame.
Bill Buckley, Dame Trelise Cooper, Alan Gibbs, Graeme and Craig Turner, and James Dilworth are six of the nine laureates who will be celebrated for their outstanding contribution to both business and community.
Amphibious vehicles, precision electromagnets for cancer treatments, fashion design and a good night’s sleep are just some of the business ventures of the 2018 laureates.
Dame Trelise Cooper established her iconic fashion design business in the early 1980s with her first boutique opening in 1985. The Trelise Cooper brand is recognised by magazines such as Vogue and Marie Claire, with styles worn by many international celebrities. Dame Trelise is a generous patron and volunteer for a variety of causes.
Alan Gibbs is one of New Zealand’s most successful entrepreneurs and inventors. Since the 1990s Gibbs has developed 11 different automobiles and has more than 50 patents in his name. Gibbs is one of New Zealand’s leading art collectors, and has established the internationally acclaimed Gibbs Farm in Kaipara – the world’s largest outdoor sculpture park.
Brothers Graeme and Craig are the third generation of Turners to run Sleepyhead – following on from father Bert, Uncle Roy and Grandfather Sidney, who saw the potential of a business that made natural seed fibre mattresses out of a small factory in Auckland 80 years ago. Since then Sleepyhead has consistently led the market in quality and value. One of NZ’s most trusted brands, the majority of Kiwis now sleep on a Sleepyhead bed.
Bill Buckley is founder of Buckley Systems Limited (BSL), the world’s leading supplier of precision electromagnets used in the manufacture of more than 90 per cent of the world’s silicon chips. BSL’s range of products are used in medical proton and photon therapy – systems that will revolutionise cancer treatments of the future.
Born in Ireland in 1815, James Dilworth was a successful businessman and farmer, accumulating significant wealth through his various interests. James bequeathed the bulk of his estate to establish Dilworth School – the largest boarding-only school in Australasia, and the endowment which funds the scholarships for low-decile students has grown to a level of $550 million.