Ken Rintoul has been honoured for a lifetime of working for Northland in a plethora of business, governance and community roles. Photo / Supplied
Ken Rintoul has been honoured for a lifetime of working for Northland in a plethora of business, governance and community roles. Photo / Supplied
Kenneth Alan (Ken) Rintoul Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to governance and the community
A lifetime of working and advocating for Northland has been recognised today with Ken Rintoul made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
Rintoul and his wife, Phyllis, established acivil engineering business in their home town of Ōkaihau in 1987, building it up into a major player in the construction industry in Northland and Auckland.
The family firm regularly beat big multinationals to secure contracts and was a winner in the Westpac Northland Business Excellence Awards in 2010 and 2013.
Alongside his business interests, Rintoul somehow found time for a plethora of directorships and community roles.
According to his citation, Rintoul was a member of the Northland Regional Transport Committee from 2010-13, when he was instrumental in getting a Mid North bus service trial off the ground.
He secured almost $1 million from the Northland Regional Council for the Pou Herenga Tai Twin Coast Cycle Trail, transforming it from struggling proposal to successful project, and led a significant shakeup of rural firefighting in Northland as the inaugural chairman of the Northern Rural Fire Authority.
At that time he helped reduce rural firefighting costs from $2 million-$3 million a year to $180,000.
He also helped create and chaired the Enlarged Rural Fire Organisation, and advised the newly formed Fire and Emergency NZ.
Ken Rintoul at home at Waihou Valley Estate, Ōkaihau. Photo / Peter de Graaf
Rintoul played a key role in the regional council funding application for the purchase of two commercial properties in Kawakawa, allowing the completion of the Hundertwasser-inspired Te Hononga centre and a town square.
He designed a business plan for Northland College's dairy farm and chaired the school's board of trustees.
He has also been a Top Energy trustee since 2015, overseeing growth of the company's assets from $367m to more than $700m, and is a trustee of Te Tai Tokerau Water Trust, which is building a series of reservoirs in the Mid North and Kaipara.
He was a strong Northland voice on the board of the NZ Transport Agency for two years, sometimes clashing with city-based board members over spending priorities.
