According to his LinkedIn profile Foresi is the deputy director for the Development Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences at the University of Melbourne.
Foresi was sentenced in the Hamilton District Court today by community magistrate Ngaire Mascelle who said the defendant's "momentary lapse" in concentration changed the lives of the six victims forever.
The court heard one of the victims was 21 weeks pregnant and had children in the car.
She required monitoring for her unborn baby.
Another victim almost died and had to be put into an induced coma, spending six weeks in hospital.
Several of the victims required multiple surgeries and one had 40 metal rods inserted into their spine.
One of the victims was Foresi's Canadian wife Angela who was in court in a wheelchair to support her husband.
The couple, who work at the University of Melbourne and have lived in Australia for three years, were on an 11-day holiday in New Zealand when the crash happened.
The court heard that Foresi had travelled from Rotorua to the Hobbiton turn-off when he turned right into the path of the eastbound car.
His lawyer Rob Quin said Foresi could not explain why he didn't see the oncoming car.
Mascelle said Foresi's level of offending was low and he would not be the last person to have a momentary lapse of concentration.
"But it was a considerable consequence as a result of that momentary lapse."
She listed the injuries, which also included extensive scarring, lacerations to a liver and an intestinal infection, fractured vertebrae and a leg laceration that required 19 stitches.
"Six lives were changed quite significantly on that day because of the injuries sustained.
"So often very minor actions can have significant catastrophic outcomes."
She convicted Foresi on the six charges and sentenced him to pay $18,916 reparation to be split between the five victims.
Foresi, who had never appeared in court before, was also ordered to pay $130 court costs and disqualified from driving for eight months.