Joan Kehely, Tauranga, QSM
For services to local body affairs. Mrs Kehely was elected to the Tauranga County Council in 1986, serving a term as Deputy Mayor of the Western Bay of Plenty District Council from 1989, and a term as Mayor from 1992. She was appointed to the Bay of Plenty District Health Board in 1998, where she championed and guided the establishment of the Bay Health Foundation. She continues to be involved in the foundation, which has since built community-funded cancer centres in both Tauranga and Whakatane.