Anne and David Norman
Anne and David Norman, of Auckland, received the Insignia of a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to business. Mr and Mrs Norman head James Pascoe Ltd, the retail giant with more than 690 stores and 10,000 staff throughout New Zealand and Australia. The pair have forged a reputation for revitalising flagging businesses. They bought Farmers from Foodland Associated in 2003 and successfully raised the company out of a financial slump. Similarly the Normans bought 57 Whitcoulls stores and five Borders stores in 2011 after their Australian owners, REDGroup, went into voluntary administration, effectively saving more than 900 jobs and guaranteeing a future for a majority of the stores. They are active philanthropists, with their primary charity being the Leukaemia and Blood Foundation, with the University of Auckland’s Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences offering an annual grant, the Anne and David Norman Fellowship in Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research. They sponsor the Pascoe Cup business house tennis competition and the New Zealand Residential Tennis Championship. Mr and Mrs Norman were inducted into the Fairfax Media New Zealand Business Hall of Fame in 2011.