Vic University to confer honorary doctorate on Paul Baines

18 November 2013

Victoria University to confer honorary doctorate on Paul Baines

Business leader Paul Baines will receive the honorary degree of Doctor of Commerce during Victoria University’s December graduation ceremonies.

A distinguished investment banker and businessman, Mr Baines’ strategic and governance talents have seen him appointed to the boards of some of New Zealand’s largest public, private and not-for-profit organisations.

Victoria University Vice-Chancellor Professor Pat Walsh says the significant and wide-ranging influence Mr Baines has had on a number of organisations make him thoroughly deserving of an honorary degree from Victoria.

“Paul has made an outstanding contribution to this country by providing his expertise and support to a vast range of organisations, including the University,” he says.

A Victoria alumnus, Mr Baines graduated from Victoria with a Bachelor of Commerce and Administration in 1973, and a Master of Public Policy with Distinction in 1978.

He began his career at R.A. Jarden and Company in 1973, an organisation he belonged to for 20 years in a variety of executive and leadership roles, including as a partner from 1978. From 1988 to 1993, he was Chief Executive Officer of the company, which by then had become Credit Suisse First Boston New Zealand, with responsibility for advising companies and government entities on financial, commercial and strategic issues. From there he became a full-time professional director. 

Boards he has served on include Comalco New Zealand, EDS New Zealand, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, Telecom Corporation of New Zealand, New Zealand Post, Fletcher Challenge and Fletcher Building, the Todd Corporation, Barnardos New Zealand, Gough Gough and Hamer, and IHC Foundation.

Mr Baines has also supported Victoria University for many years. He was closely involved with the establishment of the New Zealand Institute for the Study of Competition and Regulation, based at Victoria, and was the first Chair of the Project Management Committee of the Professorial Fellowship in Monetary and Financial Economics, sponsored by the Reserve Bank. He is a former Board member of the Te Kōkī New Zealand School of Music. He also served as trustee of the Victoria University of Wellington Foundation for 14 years. He received a Hunter Fellowship in 2003, in recognition of his ongoing and valuable contribution.

Mr Baines will receive his honorary degree during the Victoria University graduation ceremony for Victoria Business School, which takes place on 11 December.

ENDS

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