Queen's Birthday Honours: Dallas Fisher is an Officer of New Zealand Order of Merit

Dallas Fisher's latest entrepreneurial effort was to bring the New Zealand leg of the World Rugby Sevens to Hamilton this year for the first time. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Dallas Fisher
Officer of New Zealand Order of Merit for services to business, philanthropy and sport

When the Crown envelope arrived for new Waikato Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit Dallas Fisher, his wife Helen ribbed him for a serious lapse on paying a parking fine.

The Hamilton entrepreneur, who received the honour for services to business, philanthropy and sport, said he was "humbled but chuffed".

"None of these things were just me, a whole group of people were involved."

Born in the tiny Gisborne community of Te Karaka, the former accountant's latest entrepreneurial effort was to bring the New Zealand leg of the World Rugby Sevens to Hamilton this year for the first time.

The successful venture with Rugby NZ built on his years of experience in the events industry, which started when he was 19 with a major music festival organised with two university friends, to growing a small Hamilton company, with business partner Peter Stark, into the heavyweight Montana Catering, now New Zealand's biggest private catering company. The business also operates the Flametree hospitality group in Auckland. The two companies together employ more than 200 people fulltime.

Along the way he's chaired the Hamilton-based Chiefs professional rugby union, co-founded, chaired and sponsored the professional Breakers basketball team and was the first chief executive of the Waikato Stadium Trust.

A huge fan of the Waikato, where he's lived for 30 years, the father-of-three is leading the formation of the Waikato Economic Development Agency, to be launched next month. A long-time director of Hamilton-based international engineering group NDA, he's currently chairman of Waikato Means Business which will be rolled into the new economic agency. He chairs the Tamahere Community Committee, a sub-group of the Waikato District Council.

Fisher's many philanthropic interests include the Waikato Hospice and Cambridge's Perago Trust which helps develop promising young sports people.

"I like to keep my brain alive, and keep moving. But everything [I do] involves people. Once I had to work alone for the stadium in an office at Seddon Park. I went crazy, couldn't cope. I need people around me."

Fisher's early accounting career was with PwC predecessor Coopers & Lybrand and in senior finance roles in private enterprise. At age 37, he decided to "take my own advice to clients and have a go" at running a business.

"Helen and I put everything on the line to participate in an innovative management buyout of NDA, and I mean everything."

He is still a shareholder and director of NDA which has operations in New Zealand, Australia and North America and last year was listed among the top five Hamilton businesses by revenue by the Technology Investment Network (TIN).