Jon Mayson
Jonathan Irving Mayson CNZM (born 1945) is a New Zealand shipping executive and former politician who was a co-leader of the Values Party in the 1980s.
Biography
[edit]Mayson was born in 1945 in Oamaru. Growing up in Whanganui and Dannevirke, his parents were Christian pacifists who he credits as instilling him with a social conscience. Aged 16 he became a sea cadet with the Union Steam Ship Company.[1][2] In 1972 he got a job as a stevedore in Tauranga beginning a lifetime career in waterfront operations.[3]
He opposed the Vietnam War and sporting contact with apartheid era South Africa, leading him to join the Values Party upon its foundation in 1972, later becoming a co-leader of the party in the 1980s.[2] He contested the electorate of Kaimai as the Values candidate at the 1978 and 1981 elections, where he placed fourth on both occasions.[4] Mayson was elected a member of the Bay of Plenty Harbour Board on a Values Party ticket.[1]
In 1988 he became Tauranga's assistant operations manager. In 1991 he completed a Master of Business Administration degree before being employed as port operations manager in 1992 before becoming chief executive officer of Port of Tauranga in 1997.[2] During his tenure as head of the port container volumes rose from 70,000 to 440,000 annually.[3] In 1996 he was the navigator on a square-rigged replica of HMS Endeavour which retraced the journey of Captain James Cook around New Zealand and Australia.[2] In 2005 he retired as chief executive.[3]
Honours and recognition
[edit]In June 2005 he was awarded the Taura Award for services to exporting.[3] He was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the shipping industry and to export, in the 2006 New Year Honours.[5]
Personal life
[edit]In 2005 he was diagnosed with colon cancer and began chemotherapy treatment.[3]
Notes
[edit]- ^ a b "The Management Interview: Jon Mayson - Leading with heart and soul". New Zealand Management. 31 October 2002. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
- ^ a b c d Fox, Andrea (20 May 2005). "Value of a staunch helmsman". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
- ^ a b c d e "Honoured as fight for life begins". Bay of Plenty Times. 31 December 2005. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
- ^ Norton 1988, pp. 257.
- ^ "New Year honours list 2006". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 31 December 2005. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
References
[edit]- Norton, Clifford (1988). New Zealand Parliamentary Election Results 1946–1987: Occasional Publications No 1, Department of Political Science. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington. ISBN 0-475-11200-8.
- 1945 births
- Living people
- 20th-century New Zealand politicians
- Values Party politicians
- Leaders of political parties in New Zealand
- Unsuccessful candidates in the 1978 New Zealand general election
- Unsuccessful candidates in the 1981 New Zealand general election
- Members of New Zealand harbour boards
- New Zealand chief executives
- Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit