100 Notable alumni of Massey University

Brian Peter John Molloy ONZM CRSNZ was a New Zealand plant ecologist, conservationist, and rugby union player.

Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal is a New Zealand musician, academic, and Māori music revivalist. He is of Ngāti Whanaunga, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Tamaterā, and Ngā Puhi descent.

Tina Makereti is a New Zealand novelist, essayist, and short story writer, editor and creative writing teacher. Her work has been widely published and she has been the recipient of writing residencies in New Zealand and overseas. Her book Once Upon a Time in Aotearoa won the inaugural fiction prize at the Ngā Kupu Ora Māori Book Awards in 2011,...

Ruth Paul is a children's picture book author and illustrator from Wellington, New Zealand. Her books have since been translated into many languages.

Mavis Raylene Mullins MNZM is a New Zealand businesswoman. She is Māori and identifies with Rangitāne, Te Atihaunui-a-Paparangi and Ngāti Ranginui iwi.

Morvin Te Anatipa Simon MNZM was a New Zealand Māori composer, kapa haka leader, choirmaster and historian.

Ngoc-Lan Thi Pham is a New Zealand politician and ecologist. She was a regional councillor for Environment Canterbury for six years and was elected to Parliament as a Green in the 2023 New Zealand general election.

Brian John Donnelly QSO was a New Zealand politician. He was a member of the New Zealand First party.

Michael Kevin Joy is a New Zealand freshwater ecologist and science communicator. He is currently employed at the Institute for Governance and Policy Studies at Victoria University of Wellington.

Philip Reeve Heatley is a New Zealand politician. He is a member of the National Party. From 2008 until January 2013, he was a member of cabinet, holding the portfolios of Fisheries, Fisheries and Aquaculture, Energy and Resources, and Housing, before being replaced in a cabinet reshuffle by Prime Minister John Key. Heatley retired from Parliament in 2014.

Kevin James Schuler is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former rugby union player. A flanker, Schuler represented Manawatu and North Harbour at a provincial level, and was a member of the New Zealand national side, the All Blacks, between 1989 and 1995. He played 13 matches for the All Blacks including four internationals and the 1995 Rugby World...

Robert Charles Stuart OBE was a New Zealand rugby union player and administrator. He was given a lifetime service award by the International Rugby Board immediately after the 2003 Rugby World Cup.

Douglas Leslie Rollerson was a New Zealand rugby union and rugby league player, and rugby union executive.

Karlo Estelle Mila MNZM is a New Zealand writer and poet of Tongan, Pālagi and Samoan descent. Her first collection, Dream Fish Floating, received the NZSA Jessie Mackay Award for Best First Book of Poetry in 2006 at the Montana New Zealand Book Awards. She has subsequently published two further poetry collections, A Well Written Body (2008) and Goddess Muscle...

Tracey Tania Houpapa MNZM JP, commonly known as Traci Houpapa, is a company director and business advisor. She is a New Zealand Māori.

Richard George Scott ONZM was a New Zealand historian and journalist.

Jonathan Mark Naylor, commonly known as Jono Naylor, is a New Zealand politician from Palmerston North. He was Mayor of Palmerston North from 2007 until 2014, when he was elected to the House of Representatives in the 2014 election as a list MP for the National Party. He did not stand for re-election as an MP in 2017. In 2018...

Dionísio da Costa Babo Soares is an East Timorese politician, and a member of the National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction (CNRT). From June 2018 to May 2020, he was the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, under the VIII Constitutional Government of Timor-Leste; he had earlier served as Minister of State, Coordinator of State Administration Affairs and Justice, Minister of...

John Howard Falloon CNZM was a New Zealand politician. He was an MP from 1977 to 1996, representing the National Party in the Pahiatua electorate.

Tracey Lee McLellan is a New Zealand politician. From 2020 to 2023, she was a Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives for the Labour Party. In 2024, she re-entered parliament after the resignation of fellow Labour List MP Rino Tirikatene.

Paul Spoonley ONZM is a New Zealand sociologist and emeritus professor at Massey University where his specialist area is social change and demography and how this impacts policy decisions at the political level. Spoonley has led numerous externally funded research programmes, written or edited twenty-seven books and is a regular commentator in the news media. Educated both in New Zealand...

Julia Edward is a New Zealand rower, a two time world champion in the women's lightweight double sculls.

Daniel Ward-Smith is a former New Zealand-born English rugby union player who played at number eight for Bristol & London Wasps. He also covered flanker and second row, which made him a massive forward to have in the Wasps squad.

Jacqueline Sara Rowarth CNZM is a New Zealand agronomist, dairy farmer and science administrator.

Richard Westwood Worth OBE VRD KStJ was a New Zealand politician of the New Zealand National Party. He was the Member of Parliament for Epsom from 1999 to 2005 and a list MP from 2005 to 2009.

Luamanuvao Dame Winifred Alexandra Laban DNZM QSO is a former New Zealand politician. She served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Mana electorate, representing the Labour Party, and was the Labour Party's spokesperson for Pacific Island Affairs and for interfaith dialogue. Laban served as the Assistant Vice-Chancellor (Pasifika) at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington from 2010 to...

William Grant Guilford is a retired New Zealand academic, specialising in veterinary nutrition. He is currently Chair of the New Zealand Veterinary Association. He was previously Head of the Institute of Veterinary, Animal Sciences at Massey University, Dean of Science at the University of Auckland and Vice-Chancellor of Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington.

Dame Margaret Clara Bazley ONZ DNZM is a New Zealand public servant. She began her career as a psychiatric nurse and rose through the ranks to senior leadership positions at psychiatric hospitals and district health boards. In 1978 she became the Director of Nursing at the Department of Health, the chief nursing position in New Zealand and at that time...

Michael James Houstoun CNZM is a concert pianist from New Zealand. He has twice in his life performed the complete cycle of Beethoven sonatas and in between these achievements, he overcame focal hand dystonia.

Cameron Eric Brewer is a New Zealand politician and former journalist.

Rajen Prasad QSO is a New Zealand academic and politician. He was a Member of the House of Representatives for the Labour Party from 2008 to 2014.

Shaun Cameron Hendy MNZM FRSNZ is a New Zealand physicist. He is the chief scientist at climate innovation company Toha. He was previously a professor at the University of Auckland and was the first director of Te Pūnaha Matatini, a centre of research excellence in complex systems and data analytics. During the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand, he led a...

ʻAlipate Tuʻivanuavou Vaea, Lord Vaea is a Tongan politician and a member of the Tongan nobility. He has served as Master of the Royal Household and "long-time palace archivist", as well as being Chairman of the Tonga Traditions Committee.

Alicia Hoskin is a New Zealand flatwater canoeist. At the 2024 Summer Olympics, she won two gold medals, in the K‑2 500 metres and the K‑4 500 metres events.

Rangiānehu Mātāmua ONZM is a New Zealand indigenous studies and Māori cultural astronomy academic and is Professor of Mātauranga Māori at Massey University. He is the first Māori person to win a Prime Minister's Science Prize, is a fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi, and is the chief advisor to the New Zealand Government on the public holiday Matariki....

Robert Edward Burgess is a New Zealand rugby union player and academic. A first five-eighth, Burgess represented Manawatu at a provincial level, and was a member of the New Zealand national side, the All Blacks, from 1971 to 1973. He played 30 matches for the All Blacks including seven internationals. In 1970 Burgess refused nomination for the All Black trials...

Anthony Boyd Williams Ryall CNZM is a former New Zealand politician. He represented the National Party in the New Zealand Parliament from 1990 to 2014. Between 2008 and 2014 he served as a cabinet minister, holding the posts of Minister of Health, Minister of State Services and Minister of State Owned Enterprises. He served previously in the Shipley Cabinet between...

Genevieve "Gen" Behrent is a New Zealand rower.

Rebecca Scown is a Silver and Bronze Olympic medalist rower from New Zealand. Together with Genevieve Behrent, she won the silver medal in the women's coxless pair at the 2016 Summer Olympics. At the same Olympic games she doubled up to compete in New Zealand's first ever Olympic women's eight placing 4th. Previous to this with Juliette Haigh, she won...

Tracy Joy Phillips MNZM is a former New Zealand high jumper and police officer. She competed for New Zealand at two Commonwealth Games, in 1990 and 1994, winning a bronze medal in the high jump in 1990. Phillips joined the New Zealand Police in 1990, rising to the rank of inspector. She is noted for her advocacy for LGBTIQ+-friendly policies...

Murray John Finlay Luxton CNZM QSO was a New Zealand National Party politician, serving as a Member of Parliament from 1987 to 2002. From 2008 to 2015, he was the Chairman of DairyNZ, the organisation that represents all New Zealand dairy farmers. He was co-chair of the Waikato River Authority, a Crown/iwi co-governance organisation established through Treaty of Waitangi settlement...

Christopher James Tremain is a New Zealand businessman and retired politician. He served as member of the New Zealand House of Representatives for the National Party from 2005 until his retirement in 2014.

Stuart Norman McCutcheon was a New Zealand university administrator. Until March 2020 he was vice-chancellor of the University of Auckland, New Zealand, at which point he was the longest-serving current vice-chancellor in New Zealand, having served three five-year terms. He was previously vice-chancellor at Victoria University of Wellington, and deputy vice-chancellor and assistant vice-chancellor (research) at Massey University.

Edward Te Rangihiwinui Tauroa CMG JP, known as Hiwi Tauroa, was a New Zealand rugby union player and coach, school principal, and civil servant of Māori descent.

Jason Emery is a New Zealand rugby union player who represents the Sunwolves in Super Rugby, as well as for Manawatu in the Mitre 10 Cup. He also plays for Rugby New York (Ironworkers) in Major League Rugby (MLR) in the United States. His position of choice is centre.

Steven Maharey CNZM is a New Zealand academic and former politician of the Labour Party. Elected to Parliament for the first time in 1990, he was Minister of Social Development and Employment from 1999 to 2005 and Minister of Education from 2005 to 2007. He retired from Parliament at the 2008 general election to become the vice-chancellor at Massey University....

Sarah Joelle Gregorius, is a New Zealand association football player who plays for Miramar Rangers and has represented New Zealand at international level.

Peter Colin Hodgson is a former New Zealand politician of the Labour Party and Member of Parliament for Dunedin North from 1990 to 2011.

Thomas Joseph Scott ONZM is a New Zealand cartoonist. In the 1990s, he won New Zealand Cartoonist of the Year six times, and won the award again in 2009.

Allen Nathan Guy is a New Zealand farmer and former politician. He was elected to Parliament in 2005 as a list MP for the National Party and held the Ōtaki electorate from 2008 until 2020, when he retired. Guy was Minister of Immigration from 2011 to 2013 and Minister for Primary Industries from 2013 to 2017. He now serves as...

Nicola Joanne Wagner is a former New Zealand politician. After a career in teaching and business, she was a National Party member of the New Zealand House of Representatives from 2005 to 2020, when she retired.

Ashraf Choudhary QSO is a Pakistani-New Zealand scientist in agricultural engineering and formerly a member of the Parliament in New Zealand. He is a member of the Labour Party, and was New Zealand's first MP from South Asia and Pakistan.

Filogia Ian "Filo" Tiatia is a New Zealand former international rugby union player and current coach. He is best known for his time as back-row forward and occasional lock for the Ospreys. He is currently head coach of Welsh side Dragons RFC in the United Rugby Championship.

Sir David John Moxon KNZM GCStJ is a New Zealand Anglican bishop. He was until June 2017, the Archbishop of Canterbury's Representative to the Holy See and Director of the Anglican Centre in Rome. He was previously the Bishop of Waikato in the Diocese of Waikato and Taranaki, the archbishop of the New Zealand dioceses and one of the three...

Nicholas Galanin is a Sitka Tribe of Alaska multi-disciplinary artist and musician of Tlingit and Unangax̂ descent. His work often explores a dialogue of change and identity between Native and non-Native communities.

Kyle Simon Lockwood JP is a New Zealand architectural designer based in Melbourne, Australia. He is known for leading the successful campaign for the New Zealand Government to reintroduce the duration of the New Zealand passport to ten years, and for designing the two flags that came first and second, in the first New Zealand flag referendum. He also successfully...

Kay Cohen is an Australian fashion designer and business woman based in Sydney, Australia. Cohen has led a number of lingerie design brands, most notably as founder and creative director of Pleasure State and as general manager and creative director of Elle Macpherson Intimates. Cohen is the inventor of the Biofit uplift bra.

Derek Handley is a New Zealand entrepreneur, speaker, and author who was born in Hong Kong. With his brother Geoffrey Handley, he co-founded the global mobile marketing and media company The Hyperfactory and the mobile advertising network Snakk Media, which subsequently failed. He is the founder and managing partner of Aera VC, and founder of Wiser Conversations, "a series of...

Rebecca Katie Smith is a New Zealand former footballer who played as a defender.

Scott Curry is a New Zealand professional rugby union player who plays as a forward for the New Zealand national sevens team.

Jonathan Charles Toogood is a New Zealand musician who is the frontman (lead vocals and guitar) of the rock band Shihad. He started playing guitar when he was "8 or 9" and became friends with Tom Larkin while at Wellington High School. Toogood and Larkin were fans of AC/DC and Metallica and started Shihad in 1988.

Tory Awatere Whanau is a New Zealand politician. She was elected mayor of Wellington at the 2022 election, but did not seek re-election in 2025. Previously she served as the parliamentary chief of staff for the Green Party.

Erin Nicole Nayler is a New Zealand former professional association football goalkeeper, who last played for Bayern Munich of the German Frauen-Bundesliga. She has represented New Zealand at international level.

Cassia Joy Cowley ONZ DCNZM OBE is a New Zealand author best known for her children's fiction, including the popular series of books Mrs. Wishy-Washy.

Hinemoa Elder MNZM is a New Zealand youth forensic psychiatrist and former television presenter. She is a professor in indigenous research at Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi, a fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, and sits on the Māori Advisory Committee of the Centre for Brain Research.

Ria Dawn Percival MNZM is a professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder. She last played for Crystal Palace, on loan from Tottenham Hotspur. Born in England, she played for the New Zealand women's national team and represented New Zealand 166 times, more than any other player, male or female. She previously played for FFC Frankfurt and FF USV...

Iain Francis Lees-Galloway, initially Iain Galloway, is a New Zealand former politician.

Fiona Anderson Kim Hill CRSNZ is a New Zealand broadcaster who presented the programme Saturday Morning on Radio New Zealand National, a public radio station, between 2002 and 2023. She was named International Radio Personality of the Year in 2012.

Sarah Hirini MNZM is a New Zealand women's rugby union player. She has played fifteen-a-side and seven-a-side rugby union, as a member of the New Zealand women's national rugby sevens team and New Zealand women's national rugby union team. Hirini was captain of the New Zealand Women's Sevens team that won a silver medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in...

Colin Craig is a New Zealand businessman and perennial candidate who was the founding leader of the Conservative Party of New Zealand.

David Richard Cunliffe QSO is a New Zealand management consultant and former politician who was Leader of the New Zealand Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition from September 2013 to September 2014. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Titirangi and then New Lynn for the Labour Party between 1999 and 2017. He served as the Minister of Health,...

Kirsty Lee Yallop is a New Zealand former footballer who played as a midfielder. She played for the New Zealand women's national football team from 2004 to 2017. Yallop made history by scoring New Zealand’s first ever goal at an Olympic Games in 2008.

Peter Francis Dunne CNZM is a New Zealand retired politician.

Ingrid Natasha Visser is a New Zealand marine biologist who studies orcas. She regularly lectures on the subject aboard cruise ships, especially in Antarctica, and has been featured in several documentaries about orcas.

Tova O'Brien is a New Zealand political journalist and broadcaster.

Richard John Hubbard ONZM is a New Zealand businessman and politician, founder and former principal of Hubbard Foods in Auckland, and mayor of Auckland City from 2004 to 2007. He was elected mayor of Auckland City on 9 October 2004, succeeding John Banks, who in turn succeeded Hubbard as mayor on 13 October 2007.

Dame Lisa Marie Carrington DNZM is a flatwater canoeist and New Zealand's most successful Olympian, having won a total of eight gold medals and one bronze medal. She won three consecutive gold medals in the Women's K‑1 200 metres at the 2012 Summer Olympics, 2016 Summer Olympics and 2020 Summer Olympics, as well as gold in the same event at...

Steven Leonard Joyce CNZM is a New Zealand former politician, who entered the New Zealand House of Representatives in 2008 as a member of the New Zealand National Party. As a broadcasting entrepreneur with RadioWorks, he was a millionaire before he entered politics. In 2008 he became Minister of Transport and Minister for Communications and Information Technology. He later became...

Nehe Rihara Milner-Skudder is a New Zealand rugby union player who currently plays for the Rugby New York.

Gareth Huw Morgan is a New Zealand businessman, economist, investment manager, philanthropist, public commentator and former political figure.

Aaron Wiremu Cruden is a New Zealand rugby union player, who plays for Waikato and formerly Montpellier, Manawatu and New Zealand internationally. Cruden's usual position is fly-half (first five-eighth).

Hamish Bryon Bond CNZM is a retired New Zealand rower and former road cyclist. He is a three-time Olympic gold medallist at the 2012 London Olympic Games, the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, and at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. He won six consecutive World Rowing Championships gold medals in the coxless pair and set the current world best...

Sir Richard Leslie Taylor KNZM is the founder, creative director and head of New Zealand film prop and special effects company Wētā Workshop.

Ross Maxwell McEwan CBE is a New Zealand banker, and former chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director of National Australia Bank.

Sir Graham William Henry KNZM is a New Zealand rugby union coach, and former head coach of the country's national team, the All Blacks. Nicknamed 'Ted', he led New Zealand to win the 2011 World Cup.

Paula Lee Bennett is a New Zealand former politician who served as the 18th deputy prime minister of New Zealand between December 2016 and October 2017. She served as the deputy leader of the National Party from 2016 to 2020 and as MP for Upper Harbour from 2014 to 2020.

Benjamin Dennis O'Keeffe is a rugby union referee from New Zealand. He currently referees at domestic, Super Rugby and test match level and holds the record for most first-class games, Super Rugby and test matches officiated by a New Zealand referee.

Shehan Karunatilaka is a Sri Lankan writer. He grew up in Colombo, studied in New Zealand and has lived and worked in London, Amsterdam and Singapore. His 2010 debut novel Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew won the Commonwealth Book Prize, the DSC Prize, the Gratiaen Prize and was adjudged the second greatest cricket book of all time by Wisden....

Patrick John O'Connor, was a New Zealand/American amateur wrestler and professional wrestler. Regarded as one of the premier workers of his era, O'Connor held the AWA World Heavyweight Championship and NWA World Heavyweight Championship simultaneously, the latter of which he held for approximately two years. He was also the inaugural AWA World Heavyweight Champion. He is an overall two-time world...

Geoffrey Peter Murphy ONZM was a New Zealand filmmaker, producer, director, and screenwriter best known for his work during the renaissance of New Zealand cinema that began in the second half of the 1970s. His second feature Goodbye Pork Pie (1981) was the first New Zealand film to win major commercial success on its soil. Murphy directed several Hollywood features...

Gemma Michelle McCaw is a New Zealand field hockey player who has represented her country in three Summer Olympics (2008, 2012, and 2016).

Beauden John Barrett is a New Zealand rugby union player who plays as a First five-eighth or Fullback for the All Blacks, Blues and (formerly) Hurricanes in Super Rugby, and Taranaki in the Bunnings NPC.

Stephanie Louise Kwolek was an American chemist known for inventing Kevlar (poly-paraphenylene terephthalamide). Her career at the DuPont company spanned more than 40 years.

Dame Alcyion Cynthia Kiro GNZM QSO DStJ is a New Zealand public-health academic, administrator, and advocate, who has been serving as the 22nd governor-general of New Zealand since 21 October 2021. Kiro is the first Māori woman and the third person of Māori descent to hold the office.

Anthony McCarten is a New Zealand writer and filmmaker. He is best known for writing big-budget biopics The Theory of Everything (2014), Darkest Hour (2017), Bohemian Rhapsody (2018), The Two Popes (2019), and Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody (2022). McCarten has been nominated for four Academy Awards, including twice for Best Adapted Screenplay, for The Theory of Everything...

Louisa Hareruia Wall is a New Zealand former double international sportswoman, former politician, and human rights advocate. She represented New Zealand in both netball as a Silver Fern from 1989 to 1992 and in rugby union as a member of the Black Ferns from 1995 to 2001, including as a member of the 1991 World Netball Championships runner-up team and...

Stacey Jamie Aroha Kirsten Waaka is a New Zealand rugby league player who plays at wing for New Zealand Warriors in the NRLW.

Nathan Phillip Cohen MNZM is a New Zealand rower. He is a two-time world champion, and won a gold medal in the Olympics. In 2006, rowing a single scull, he won a gold medal at the World University Games. In doing so, he became the first New Zealander to win a gold medal at the World University Games in any...

Evan Paul Moon ONZM is a New Zealand historian and a professor at the Auckland University of Technology. He is a writer of New Zealand history and biography, specialising in Māori history, the Treaty of Waitangi and the early period of Crown rule.