Nationality New Zealander Occupation director; chairman | Years active since 1983 Name Bronwen Holdsworth | |
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Full Name Bronwen Scott Pearson Born 13 September 1943 (age 80) ( 1943-09-13 ) Wellington, New Zealand Home town Te Karaka near Gisborne Spouse(s) Peter Holdsworth (m. 1970) Alma mater Victoria University of Wellington | ||
Dame Bronwen Scott Holdsworth (née Pearson; born 13 September 1943) is a New Zealand businesswoman and arts patron from Gisborne, New Zealand.
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Private life
Bronwen Scott Pearson was born in Wellington, New Zealand, in 1943. She received her secondary education at Samuel Marsden Collegiate School. Her parents, Tom and Ngara Pearson, moved to Gisborne in 1960 where her father was the vicar of the Holy Trinity parish. She remained in Wellington to study English, music, politics and philosophy at Victoria University. She spent her holidays at Wattie's Canneries Gisborne to see her parents.
She continued her association with Gisborne even after her parents had moved on and in 1966, she met local farmer and engineer Peter Holdsworth just before she went to Malaysia with the diplomatic service. She returned to New Zealand in 1969 and Peter Holdsworth and Bronwen Pearson married in 1970. Since their marriage, they have lived in Te Karaka near Gisborne, initially running the Holdsworth family farm. The Holdsworths have four children, all of whom have studied engineering. Bronwen Holdsworth is a keen musician and she is an accomplished pianist.
Business interests
Bronwen and Peter Holdsworth founded Pultron Composites Ltd in 1983. The company is the largest manufacturer of composite materials and technology pultrusion in Australasia, and Bronwen Holdsworth was its managing director until 2007. Jasper Holdsworth, one of their sons, is now the managing director Pultron Composites, and he established a manufacturing plant in the Jebel Ali Free Zone in 2010. As of 2015, she is finance director and chairman of the Holdsworth Group, which includes interest in farming, forestry, property, investment, and manufacturing under the banner of Pultron Composites. From 2000 to 2002, she was a member of the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology's advisory committee.
Community involvement
Holdsworth has numerous community interests, many of them related to the arts. She was on the board of the Gisborne Opera Festival. She was involved with First Light Tourism, which organised the tourism promotion around the fact that Gisborne was the first city to see the sun in the year 2000. She is a member of the Te Ha 1769 Sestercentennial Trust that organises the 250-year celebrations of Captain Cook's arrival in New Zealand. She is a trustee of the Gisborne War Memorial Theatre.
In July 2014, Holdsworth was appointed to the board of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. She is a sponsor and trustee of the Gisborne International Music Competition, and she is a board member of the Gisborne Opera Festival.
Honours and awards
In 1988, Holdsworth was chosen as Businesswoman of the Year in a competition sponsored by the New Zealand women's magazine More. She was awarded the 1990 Commemoration Medal. In the 1997 New Year Honours, she was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM). When Marsden School introduced its Hall of Fame in 2007, Holdsworth was the inaugural laureate. In the 2015 Birthday Honours, she was made a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to business and the arts.