Graeme Avery

Sir Graeme Seton Avery KNZM (born 18 June 1941)[1] is a New Zealand businessman and philanthropist. After training as a pharmacist, he founded medical publishing company Adis International in 1963, and it had an annual turnover of $100 million when he sold it to Wolters Kluwer in 1996.[1][2][3] The following year, he co-founded Sileni Wine Estates in Hawke's Bay.[2]

Sir Graeme Avery KNZM
Avery in 2014
Born	Graeme Seton Avery (1941-06-18) 18 June 1941
Occupation	Businessman

As a young man, Avery played first-grade rugby in Sydney, and was a 400-metre runner.[3] He was a founder of the North Shore Bays athletics club with Dave Norris, and in 2002 he joined with Stephen Tindall and Auckland University of Technology (AUT) to establish the $30 million Millennium Institute of Sport and Health as an elite sports academy.[2][4] In 2009, Avery became chair of the AUT Millennium Ownership Trust.[2]

In 1990, Avery was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal.[5] In the 2007 Queen’s Birthday Honours, he was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to business and sport,[6] and in the 2014 Queen's Birthday Honours he was promoted to Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, also for services to business and sport.[7]

Avery was named New Zealander of the Year in 2003 by Metro magazine, and in 2006 he was conferred an honorary doctorate by AUT.[4] In 2014, Avery was inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame.[1]