Dame Kerry Leigh Prendergast (née Ferrier, born 28 March 1953) is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

politician who served as the 33rd

Mayor of Wellington The Mayor of Wellington is the head of the municipal government of the City of Wellington. The mayor presides over the Wellington City Council. The mayor is directly elected using the Single Transferable Vote method of proportional representati ...

between 2001 and 2010, succeeding

Mark Blumsky Mark Herbert Blumsky (born 29 August 1957) is a former New Zealand politician and diplomat. He was Mayor of Wellington from 1995 to 2001, and a Member of Parliament for the National Party from 2005 to 2008. Blumsky was New Zealand's High Comm ...

. She was the second woman to hold the position, after

Fran Wilde Dame Frances Helen Wilde (née Kitching, born 11 November 1948) is a New Zealand politician, and former Wellington Labour member of parliament, Minister of Tourism and Mayor of Wellington. She was the first woman to serve as Mayor of Wellingt ...

Early life

Prendergast was born in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

but grew up in Tawa, attending

Tawa College Tawa College is a state coeducational secondary school located in Tawa, Wellington, New Zealand. The school opened in 1961, and primarily serves students in Tawa and the surrounding suburbs. A total of students from Years 9 to 13 attend the sc ...

(1966–69), where she was captain of the college netball team. She qualified as a registered nurse and then trained as a midwife and was later awarded the Royal New Zealand Plunket Society Long Service Award in 1991. She has also been a voluntary grief counsellor. She holds a

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

degree from

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well know ...

Local-body politics

Prendergast started her political life as a Tawa Borough councillor in 1986. In 1989 she was elected to

Wellington City Council Wellington City Council is a territorial authority in New Zealand, governing the country's capital city Wellington, and ''de facto'' second-largest city (if the commonly considered parts of Wellington, the Upper Hutt, Porirua, Lower Hutt and ...

and was re-elected every three years until 2010. In 1995 Prendergast became

Deputy Mayor The deputy mayor (also known as vice mayor, assistant mayor, or mayor ''pro tem'') is an elective or appointive office of the second-ranking official that is present in many, but not all, local governments. Duties and functions Many elected dep ...

. In the 1999 general election Prendergast stood as a

National National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

list candidate, ranked 30th on the party's list. However, the National Party did not gain enough of the party vote for Prendergast to enter

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. She considered running again at the 2002 election, but in 2001 Mark Blumsky announced his intention not to run for the mayoralty again, and endorsed Prendergast's mayoralty candidacy. Prendergast was elected mayor in 2001 and re-elected in 2004 and 2007. During her time as Mayor, Prendergast instigated the policy of making Wellington the "Creative Capital". She has endorsed changing the Flag of New Zealand. In the

2010 Wellington City mayoral election The 2010 Wellington City mayoral election is part of the 2010 New Zealand local elections. On 9 October 2010, elections were held for the Mayor of Wellington plus other local government roles. Sitting Green Party councillor Celia Wade-Brown defe ...

, Prendergast was challenged by

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

city councillor

Celia Wade-Brown Celia may refer to: General * Celia (given name) *''Celia'', a subgenus of carabid beetles of the genus '' Amara'' *Celia, the last natural-born Pyrenean Ibex * Celia (virtual assistant), AI virtual assistant by Huawei *, a number of ships with ...

for the Wellington mayoralty. After the counting of special votes, Wade-Brown was declared the winner by a 176-vote margin, ending nearly a decade of Prendergast's mayoralty.

Other roles

In 2011 she became chair of the Environmental Protection Authority and of the

Tourism Board A destination marketing organization (DMO) is an organisation which promotes a location as an attractive travel destination. DMOs are known as tourist boards, tourism authorities or "Convention and Visitors Bureaux". They primarily exist to provide ...

. She is on the board of Kirkaldie and Stains Ltd, WorkSafe NZ, Phoenix Football Club, and is on several advisory boards. Prendergast was Vice President of

Local Government New Zealand Local Government New Zealand Te Kahui Kaunihera ō Aotearoa (LGNZ) is the local government association of New Zealand. It represents the interests of the regional, city, and district councils in New Zealand. History The Association was for ...

and a trustee of the Joe Aspell Trust during her time as Mayor. She has been executive chair of the New Zealand International Festival of the Arts since 2011. She was a director of

Wellington International Airport Wellington International Airport (formerly known as Rongotai Airport) is an international airport located in the suburb of Rongotai in Wellington. It lies 3 NM or 5.5 km south-east from the city centre. It is a hub for Air New Zealand an ...

Limited and the Wellington Region Association of Midwives until 2010. She is an honorary life member of the Katherine Mansfield Birthplace Society and of Plunket. In 2015 Prendergast accepted the role of ambassador for

Alzheimer's Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As t ...

New Zealand, having had personal experience of the disease - both her late father Denis and her mother Beverley Ferrier suffered the disease.

Honours and awards

In the 2011 Queen's Birthday Honours, Prendergast was appointed 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 local-body affairs, and in the

2019 New Year Honours The 2019 New Year Honours are 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 celebratio ...

, 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 ...

, for services to governance and the community. In 2014, Prendergast received 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 ...

in the local and regional category.

Personal life

Prendergast is married and has two daughters. Her son, Andrew, was killed on 31 March 2011 in a riding accident.*

References

External links

Kerry Prendergast in 2000 next to mayor Mark Blumsky (photo)
* from 2005
Wellington City Council – Mayor Prendergast

Farewell statement from Wellington City Council

at

City Mayors The City Mayors Foundation, also known as City Mayors, is an international think tank dedicated to urban affairs. It has been active since 2003 and runs the biennial World Mayor award, as well as providing pro bono consultancy services. Unlike Eur ...

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Prendergast, Kerry 1953 births Dames Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit Living people Mayors of Wellington Deputy mayors of Wellington Wellington City Councillors New Zealand justices of the peace New Zealand nurses Women mayors of places in New Zealand Victoria University of Wellington alumni New Zealand National Party politicians New Zealand midwives Unsuccessful candidates in the 1999 New Zealand general election New Zealand Women of Influence Award recipients People educated at Tawa College New Zealand women nurses