Flying Kiwi Award 2004
Neville Jordan is a graduate engineer and holds an honorary Doctorate in Engineering from Canterbury University. His early career was in civil aviation and the IBM World Trade Corp. He won a USA Rotary scholarship, then spent several years in Europe as VP for a Philips company.
In 1975 he founded MAS Technology Ltd, a telecommunications microwave company. He grew MAS to a multinational company with a successful IPO on the NASDAQ main board. MAS and its successors have now earned over $1 billion in net foreign exchange for New Zealand.
In 1998 Neville founded Endeavour Capital. He has investments in more than 35 international companies, from research, science and technology to horticulture and large-scale real estate, with many successful exits achieved. He has secured over $400m of foreign direct investment for NZ companies and is a signatory to United Nations Global Compact, Principles of Responsible Investment.
Neville has served on many government ministerial committees. He spent six years as director of AgResearch and three years each on the boards of F RS&T and the Prime Minister's Growth and Innovation Advisory Board. He was a member of team that negotiated the science portion of NZ's free trade agreement with China.
Neville has chaired several committees for the Australian and NZ governments, most recently the taskforce reviewing Crown Research Institutes. He is a past Chair of a State Owned Enterprise establishment board, Chair of the Divestment Board and a member of the Defence Technology Agency review panel. He is currently a member of the governmen's Green Growth panel.
Neville is a past director of the MacDiarmid Institute, founding Chair of the Defence Manufacturers Association, and founder and inaugural Chair of the Rutherford Foundation.
He is a Retired Officer, RNZNVR, and currently holds the rank of honorary Captain in the Royal NZ Navy.
He established the Jordan Foundation in 1995 to provide scholarships for higher learning, particularly for the disadvantaged, plus support for performing arts. He was elected an honorary Life Member of the Downstage Theatre in recognition of his contribution to live theatre.
He is a past president of the Royal Society of NZ and a trustee of the Institution of Professional Engineers Foundation and Antarctic Heritage Trust.
He has been a judge and mentor over many years for city and university business school competitions.
He is a NZ Universities judo representative, scuba diving instructor, has been offroad motorcycling in many overseas countries, rallied a 1922 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost and completed over 20,000 miles of ocean yacht racing as owner, skipper and navigator.
Awards and honours:
- Governor General's Supreme Award for Exporting
- Top NZTE award for'major company exporting'
- Laureate of both the Business Hall of Fame and Hi-Tech Hall of Fame
- UK Kirby Medal for 'outstanding eminence and distinction in advanced technology'
- Distinguished Fellow of the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ
- NZ Order of Merit (CNZM)
- Thomson Medal, Royal Society of NZ, for 'outstanding leadership in the management of science/technology leading to wealth creation for New Zealand'
