Dame Alison Mae Paterson (formerly Dinsdale, née Glennie; born 22 August 1935) is a New Zealand businesswoman. In 1979, she became the first woman to sit on the board of a

publicly listed company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of share capital, stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in Over-the-counter (finance), over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) comp ...

in New Zealand.

Early life and family

Paterson was born Alison Mae Glennie at

Taumarunui Taumarunui is a small town in the King Country of the central North Island of New Zealand. It is on an alluvial plain set within rugged terrain on the upper reaches of the Whanganui River, 65 km south of Te Kuiti and 55 km west of ...

on 22 August 1935. She was educated at

New Plymouth Girls' High School New Plymouth Girls' High School is a girls' state secondary school in Strandon, New Plymouth, New Zealand. The school separated from New Plymouth High School in 1914, leaving New Plymouth Boys' High School on the old site. It is currently on ...

, and became deaf towards the end of her schooling, although this was subsequently largely resolved through a series of operations. In about 1956, she married Alan John Dinsdale, but they later divorced. In 1991, she married lawyer Barry John Paterson. He was appointed

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of ...

in 1993, and served as a High Court judge between 1996 and 2004.

Career

After leaving school, Glennie worked as the petty-cash girl for an accountancy firm, and studied accounting by correspondence. She qualified as a chartered accountant in 1966, and established her own farm accounting practice in 1971. In 1976, Alison Dinsdale was appointed as a member of the Apple and Pear Marketing Board, becoming the first woman to be appointed to a producer board in New Zealand. Three years later, in 1979, she was the first woman to serve on the board of a New Zealand publicly listed company when she joined the board of retail chain McKenzies. She has gone on to serve on numerous company boards. She spent 15 years on the board of the

Reserve Bank of New Zealand The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ, mi, Te Pūtea Matua) is the central bank of New Zealand. It was established in 1934 and is constituted under the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 1989. The governor of the Reserve Bank is responsible for N ...

and has chaired entities including

Landcorp Landcorp Farming Limited ("Landcorp") is a state-owned enterprise of the New Zealand government. Its brand name is Pāmu, the Te Reo Māori word 'to farm'. Its core business is pastoral farming including dairy, sheep, beef and deer, as well as ...

, the

Waitematā District Health Board The Waitemata District Health Board (Waitemata DHB) was a district health board with the focus on providing healthcare to people living in the area that used to be covered by North Shore city, Rodney District, and Waitakere City in New Zealand. ...

, Farm IQ Systems, Kiwi Wealth, the Forestry Industry Safety Council, and Albano Healthcare Group. Other company boards on which she has sat include

Vector Vector most often refers to: *Euclidean vector, a quantity with a magnitude and a direction *Vector (epidemiology), an agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism Vector may also refer to: Mathematic ...

, Stevenson Agriculture, New Zealand Formulary,

Transpower New Zealand Transpower New Zealand Limited (TPNZ) is the state-owned enterprise responsible for electric power transmission in New Zealand. It performs two major functions in the New Zealand electricity market. As the owner of the National Grid it provi ...

and Crown Irrigation Investments. She has also served on the

Massey University Massey University ( mi, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa) is a university based in Palmerston North, New Zealand, with significant campuses in Albany and Wellington. Massey University has approximately 30,883 students, 13,796 of whom are extramural or ...

Council.

Honours and awards

In the

2000 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2000 for the United Kingdom and New Zealand were announced on 31 December 1999, to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 2000. The ''Honours list'' is a list of people who have been awarded one of the various or ...

, Alison Paterson was appointed a

Companion of the Queen's Service Order The Queen's Service Order, established by royal warrant of Queen Elizabeth II on 13 March 1975, is used to recognise "valuable voluntary service to the community or meritorious and faithful services to the Crown or similar services within the pu ...

for public services. In the

2010 Queen's Birthday Honours The 2010 Birthday Honours for the Commonwealth realms were announced to celebrate the Queen's Birthday on 7 June 2010 in New Zealand, on 12 June 2010 in the United Kingdom, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Sain ...

, she was made a

Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant (document), royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Monarchy of New Zealand, Queen of New Zealand, "for those ...

, for services to business, and she was promoted to

Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rend ...

in the

2014 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2014 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

. In 2009, Paterson was conferred an honorary

Doctor of Commerce The Doctor of Commerce (DCom) is a doctoral degree in commerce-, accounting-, mathematics-, economics-, and management-related subjects, awarded by universities in the Commonwealth. The degree is offered both as a higher doctorate, and as a resea ...

degree by Massey University. The following year, she was named the Top 200 QBE Insurance chairperson of the year, and in 2015 she was inducted into the

New Zealand Business Hall of Fame The New Zealand Business Hall of Fame is a figurative hall of fame dedicated to New Zealanders who have made a significant contribution to the economic and social development of New Zealand. The hall was established in 1994 by the Young Enterpri ...

. In 2018, she was recognised for her contribution to business and finance at the New Zealand CFO Awards, and in 2020, she won the board and management award at the

New Zealand Women of Influence Award The New Zealand Women of Influence Awards are an annual set of awards which recognise women who make a difference to everyday New Zealanders' lives. The Awards were first made in 2013 and were initially sponsored by Westpac Bank. In 2016, Stuff N ...

s. Also in 2020, she was awarded honorary life membership of Global Women.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paterson, Alison 1935 births Living people People from Taumarunui People educated at New Plymouth Girls' High School New Zealand accountants New Zealand women accountants New Zealand women in business New Zealand business executives Companions of the Queen's Service Order Dames Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit Waitemata District Health Board members New Zealand Women of Influence Award recipients