Jerry Mateparae

His Excellency The Right Honourable Sir Jerry Mateparae GNZM, QSO, KStJ is the current New Zealand High

Commissioner to the United Kingdom. Prior to his appointment, Sir Jerry served as New Zealand’s Governor General. Previously, he worked at senior levels in the New Zealand public service and military.

Sir Jerry Mateparae is of Māori descent. His tribal affiliations are to Ngāti Tūwharetoa and Ngāti Kahungunu. He also has links to Tūhoe and tribes in the upper Whanganui. Sir Jerry also has English and Irish ancestry.

After enlisting into the Regular Force of the New Zealand Army as a soldier in 1972, Sir Jerry later went on to command the New Zealand Army, and the New Zealand Defence Force. When he retired from the New Zealand Defence Force in January 2011, he was appointed as Director of the Government Communications Security Bureau.

Sir Jerry Mateparae received his military education in the UK, Australia and Singapore. He has a Master of Arts with First Class Honours from the University of Waikato, and was recognised by that University as one of its distinguished alumni in 2009. In May 2011, Sir Jerry received an honorary doctorate from Massey University. He is a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Management.

Sir Jerry Mateparae was awarded Singapore’s highest military award, the Darjah Utama Bakti Cemerlang (Tentera) [Distinguished Service Order (Military)], from the President of Singapore, S R Nathan, in May 2011. In June that year, at Buckingham Palace, he was knighted by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the Queen of New Zealand as a Grand Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. He is married to Lady Janine Elizabeth Mateparae and they have five children.