Ex-pupils receive business honours

Columba College inducted former pupils Helen Anderson and Ann Kennedy Perkins as its 2009 laureates into its Business Hall of Fame at a function last night.

Organisers said Mrs Anderson, as chief executive of the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology, was able to set the agenda for science and research in the country, and had achieved "significant success" during her career.

She graduated from the University of Auckland with a first class honours degree and had completed a PhD from the

University of Cambridge and was awarded a Fulbright senior research scholarship to study at the University of California.

Her interest in seismology prompted her selection as director of Earth and Sciences in Dunedin, a collaboration between the University of Otago and Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, before beginning work for the ministry in 1997.

Mrs Kennedy Perkins graduated from the University of Otago with a first class honours degree in English and worked at Radio New Zealand and TVNZ before moving into public relations.

In 1994, she established AKP Communications Ltd, a consultancy firm assisting companies to develop business objectives.

Earlier this year, she won the Gold Quill Award from the International Association of Business Communications for a campaign supporting the establishment of the New Zealand Transport Agency.

The pair join earlier laureates Miranda Caird, Amanda Ellis, Sue Stevely Cole, Barb Anderson and Julia Aspinall.