Linda Jenkinson is a serial entrepreneur, global citizen, sportswoman and an aspiring social entrepreneur who is committed to making the world a better place.
Ms Jenkinson has built two multimillion-dollar companies since leaving New Zealand for America 25 years ago.
She was also the first woman in New Zealand to take a company public on New York's Nasdaq stock exchange, in 1998.
Ms Jenkinson sashayed into the business world in the early 1990s by turning a small stake in a Wellington courier company into the multimillion-dollar international delivery firm Dispatch Management Services.
Today the $250 million company works across America, the UK, New Zealand and Australia.
She was born in Palmerston North but lives in San Francisco where she chairs her co-founded LesConcierges, which provides concierge services across 89 cities worldwide and gets one million requests a year.
Seven years ago, Ms Jenkinson co-founded WOW Investments, a social enterprise fund which invests in high-potential female-based businesses in Western Africa.
She is a member of the World Class New Zealand network, a collection of New Zealand residents and expats committed to aiding the country's international competitiveness and economic growth, and likes nothing better than spending summer reading.
What do you most look forward to about coming home for summer?
For a Kiwi, summer is Thanksgiving, summer holidays, Christmas, New Year's parties, and the Manawatu races. Summer is really about everyone taking time out with friends and family.
Where will you spend your time here?
Quick trip to my hometown of Palmerston North, then up to Rotorua for a week in a private lodge with our own lake. After this we are heading to a New Year's Eve party at the Chateau Tongariro Hotel, and then off to Karatau for a week on the lake.
What books will you be reading?
Ultimate Performance, Sahir, What and Where, The Four Agreements.
What is December like where you live?
I live in San Francisco, which is very festive. I just attended the San Fran Ballet's Nutcracker, the symphony's Messiah; otherwise it is full of Christmas parties, and there is the lighted boat parade in Sausalito.
What dish will you be cooking on the barbecue?
Quail wrapped in bacon.