BAKER, Dr Paul Andrew
To be a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit
For services to health.
Associate Professor Paul Baker is New Zealand’s leading authority on airway management, who has shaped clinical practice nationally and internationally.
Dr Baker was a foundation consultant anaesthetist at Starship Children’s Hospital, who has contributed more than 40 years as an airway management specialist and paediatric anaesthetist. In 1996 he significantly advanced patient safety by creating AirwaySkills, the first training programme in the southern hemisphere teaching the management of difficult airways. Through AirwaySkills, he has personally trained more than 5,000 anaesthetists, emergency physicians and intensive-care doctors. He founded the medical innovation company Airway Limited in 2006. He led the invention of ORSIM, a virtual reality bronchoscopy training simulator, now used in more than 40 countries and in prestigious medical universities such a Harvard, Oxford and Yale. In 2004 he led a team of 26 clinicians to successfully perform New Zealand’s first Ex Utero Intrapartum Treatment (EXIT) procedure, one of the most high-risk and technically demanding operations in modern medicine. He has authored or co-authored 96 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters on airway safety, paediatric airway management and medical ethics. His research led to the adoption of national equipment standards, ensuring every operating theatre is equipped to manage difficult airways. Dr Baker was Chairman of the international committee of the World Airway Management Meeting, and President of the Society for Airway Management USA.
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BOSHIER, Mr Peter Francis
To be a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit
For services to the State and the judiciary.
Mr Peter Boshier was the Chief Ombudsman from 2015 to 2025, responsible for handling complaints about and investigating the administrative conduct of public sector agencies, including official information requests.
As Chief Ombudsman, Mr Boshier’s focus was on a faster and more effective resolution of Official Information Act (OIA) and other complaints, working with government agencies to improve their practices and strengthening his team’s investigation and monitoring of prisons, secure aged care and public mental health facilities, and a much greater prevalence of agencies proactively disclosing a range of information on their websites. He considered more than 14,000 OIA complaints and conducted 37 proactive investigations of the official information practices of central government agencies. He was active in the International Ombudsman Institute (IOI), serving between 2019 and 2022 as President of the Australasia and Pacific Region and then as Second Vice President of the IOI. He was elected President of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts in the United States of America, the only New Zealander to hold that position. He was appointed to the District Court in 1988 as a Family Court Judge, subsequently being appointed as the Principal Family Court Judge in 2004. Mr Boshier held that position until 2012 when he was appointed a Law Commissioner.
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CHAPMAN, Professor Emeritus James William
To be a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit
For services to literacy education.
Professor Emeritus James Chapman has made significant contributions to literacy teaching and learning in New Zealand and internationally since the 1980s, particularly in learning disabilities and dyslexia research.
Professor Chapman’s pioneering research in learning difficulties and educational psychology has shaped how children learn to read, influenced national policy, and guided development of structured literacy approaches embedded across New Zealand schools. In 2002, he was part of an international group who urged governments to direct funding into effective interventions for children struggling with reading. He was President of the International Academy for Research in Learning Disabilities from 2006 to 2009 and served on the Executive Board for more than 20 years. His numerous group and editorial board memberships have included the Ministry of Education’s Special Needs Eligibility Criteria and Literacy Experts Advisory Groups and International Advisor for the Institute of Education. Since formal retirement as Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the College of Education at Massey University from 2002 to 2012, he has continued his research and has been on the Science Advisory Panel for the New Zealand Sciences Challenge and a Science Advisor for the Better Start Literacy Approach at the University of Canterbury. He was a member of the Ministerial Advisory Group in 2024 that developed an evidence-based framework for teaching literacy and numeracy in primary education. Professor Chapman received the Learning Difficulties Australia Eminent Researcher Award for 2024.
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ELLIS, Mr David Charles, CNZM
To be a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit
For services to the thoroughbred industry and philanthropy.
Mr David Ellis was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2020 for his services to the thoroughbred industry.
Mr Ellis is 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 One 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 number 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. Mr 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.
HONOURS
- Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, Queen’s Birthday 2020