Ms Colleen Upton, of Upper Hutt, ONZM, for services to the plumbing and gasfitting industry and women
Colleen Upton joined the Hutt Valley Wairarapa Master Plumbers Association in the early 1990s, later joining the Executive Committee and serving as President. She was the first female member on the New Zealand Master Plumbers Board, where she helped to develop a Diversity Policy. She has mentored and overseen the training of more than 50 apprentices. Her own business now employs three of only 44 female plumbers and gasfitters currently active in New Zealand. She established a group at the New Zealand Plumbers conference to work on increasing women’s presence at secondary school career events and the hiring of female apprentices. Ms Upton is on the Board of the National Association of Women in Construction, Weltec Advisory Group and Interim Skills Leadership group.