Our People: Deryck Shaw, does this man ever sleep?

Deryck Shaw. Photo / Ben Fraser

We're hardly though Deryck Shaw's door when a caveat's issued.

It's that any talk of him recently falling on his sword as president of Football NZ is strictly off limits, although he's happy to speak about it in general terms.

"I have no problems with the review [that sparked his resignation], any organisation can always do better, but people do tend to sensationalise things like this, you have to keep moving forward."

It's fine by us to park that topic right there, there's a goldfield of other Deryck Shaw material to mine. His is a CV which runs to 13 pages, supported by glow-in-the-dark testimonials from a sample of organisations he's been associated with. This is an action man whose facts speak for themselves, firmly lodging him in the premier league of this city's success stories.

His qualifications, business and leadership skills, directorships, professional bodies and life memberships slot him into the "does this man ever sleep?" category.

The answer's "not very much", it's not uncommon to find him at work at 4am.

A quick skim of his present responsibilities embraces chairing the Lakes DHB (a Government appointment), deputy chairman Te Puia-Maori Arts and Crafts Institute, director CTAS (national shared health services), director Waimangu Volcanic Valley and long-time leader of this city's walking festival - chairing the National Walking Association was a natural progression.

He has a procession of degrees from Waikato, Canterbury and Lincoln universities culminating in a Masters in Applied Sciences.

"I like the rigours of science, about how everything seems to work and link in."

He's founding director of Rotorua-based APR Consultants, chartered director of the Institute of Directors and add in there former Waiariki Institute of Technology chairman and all-round sportsman.

Away from the workplace he's "into" commercial and residential property development, he's a white collar guy who likes to get his hands dirty.

Deryck acquired the Holden's Bay Holiday Park when it became surplus to council requirements.

"I'm busy improving the facilities, do most of the physical work."

All this and we've barely made a dent in a life of total immersion in so many fields.

The combined sum of their parts was given royal recognition in 2014 when Deryck was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit. That was quite some year, he was also acknowledged as Rotorua Business Person of the Year.

So that's Deryck Shaw in a nutshell – or is it? Not when Our People's on his case.

Our job's to lay bare what's shaped him into the outstanding leader he's become.

Here we stumble on a surprise, this thoroughly Kiwi-looking guy has a rich heritage incorporating Swedish and Tongan DNA inherited from his grandmothers.

A lot of his growing up was done on family dairy farms in the Whakatāne area.

He left Whakatāne High with his sights set on a Waikato University Bachelor of Science.

Post-graduation he migrated to Canterbury's recently established resource management faculty, studying there and at Lincoln.

At Lincoln he became student association president which led to his election to head the national body.

"It was 1981, the Springbok tour, a very challenging time for students who tend to be quite principled."

Did he join the protesters? Dumb question.

"I was flatting with a black Namibian student, was campaigning to free Mandela, tour apart, we had a lot of marches around education, now I'm part of that establishment I have a different way of going about things."

His first job out of the association was the genesis of his consultancy work; project number one was a Taupō fisheries study "interviewing 1823 anglers over 260 days".

He met wife-to-be Sally Daffin at a Taupō party; an Aucklander, she was teaching at Taupō-Nui-a-Tia College.

"We married the week after the 1987 share market crash, our best man, a pig farmer, had sold all his shares the previous week, everyone thought he was a bit of a financial guru."

Deryck settled in Rotorua three years before his marriage, founding DJ Shaw and Associates (now APR), "a multi-dimensional business with 70-80 per cent of the business out of Rotorua from the Far North to Invercargill".

Beyond the boardroom, the Shaw talent pool spills into the community.

In 1986 he joined Citizens Advice Bureau, initially as a volunteer then chairman, spending five years on the national board.

He's been a trustee and chaired the St Chad's trust for those with disabilities, been a member of the local Historic Places and Lifelong Learning Trusts.

He became closely associated with RECT when then chairman, the late Johnny Lepper, invited him to help select its $6 million millennium gift to the district.

"We started with 50 projects, whittled them down to 13, it's a privilege to have been involved in something as major as that."

In 1989 Rotary awarded him a study exchange to Texas, the start of his involvement with the service organisation. He joined the Rotorua West club, founder of Rotorua's Two Day Walk. When the event's popularity outgrew Rotary's ability to handle it Deryck was at the helm establishing an incorporated society to run it.

Ironically he's never walked in it because he's been too busy behind the scenes.

"But I have walked every course prior to the event and been to a lot of the international walks, I love these events, meeting people from across the world."

He's always played sport, was in Waikato University's harriers, played squash, badminton and football at Lincoln.

Away from work and development sites, he's on his mountain bike, a pioneer in the sport he bought his first bike 34 years ago "before tracks were developed". It was a natural progression to move into cycling organisations.

When his three sons turned into "pretty reasonable" footballers he became immersed in that code's administration, initially through Central and Rotorua United Clubs, followed by WaiBOP United and the Oceania Football Confederation before joining New Zealand Football's board in 2015, heading it until October when the step-down we can't elaborate on came to pass.

And, yes, he's a player too.

"I played in Russia with Ryan Nelsen in an Oceania team, finally losing to Africa in a penalty shoot-out, to be runner-up was a thrill."

Suggest he's been involved in just about everything it's possible to be involved in and Deryck tends to agree - with a reflective qualification.

"One of my weaknesses is I do everything but it's a strength too."

FACTBOX

DERYCK SHAW MNZM

Born: Whakatāne, 1956

Education: Awakeri Primary, Whakatāne Intermediate and High, Waikato, Canterbury and Lincoln universities, extra-mural study (planning) Massey

Family: Wife Sally, sons Nelson 29 (Auckland), Oliver 27 (Rotorua), Jeremy 22, (Matamata)

Interests: Family "They're what I'm most proud of." Walking, has run Rotorua marathon, mountain biking, football. "My business, working on my property developments."

On his life: "I've endeavoured to do my best for my family and community having fun along the way."

On Rotorua: "A strong community with big aspirations."

Personal philosophy: "Don't sweat the small stuff, go for gold and help form all the things that are important in your life."

This is the final Our People profile in the present series. It will resume next year.