Clive Denby Matthewson MNZM

New Zealand Order of Merit

The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order established in 1996 "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rendered meritorious service to the Crown and nation or who have become distinguished by their eminence, talents, contributions or other merits."The order includes five...

 (born 1944), is a former New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 politician.

Matthewson was originally a member of the Labour Party

New Zealand Labour Party

The New Zealand Labour Party is a New Zealand political party. It describes itself as centre-left and socially progressive and has been one of the two primary parties of New Zealand politics since 1935....

, representing the Dunedin West seat. He left Labour in 1995 to jointly establish the United New Zealand

United New Zealand

United New Zealand was a centrist political party in New Zealand founded in 1995. It merged with the Christian-based Future New Zealand party to form the United Future New Zealand party in 2000.-History:...

 party with six other sitting MPs. Matthewson became United's leader, and when the party formed a coalition with the governing National Party in 1996 he was made a Cabinet Minister. In the 1996 election

New Zealand general election, 1996

The 1996 New Zealand general election was held on 12 October 1996 to determine the composition of the 45th New Zealand Parliament. It was notable for being the first election to be held under the new Mixed Member Proportional electoral system, and produced a parliament considerably more diverse...

, Peter Dunne

Peter Dunne

Peter Dunne is a New Zealand politician and Member of Parliament who leads the United Future political party. He has served as a Cabinet minister in governments dominated by the centre-left Labour Party as well as by the centre-right National Party...

 was the only United politician to keep his seat, and Matthewson did not return to Parliament.

He was the Director of Development and Alumni Relations at the University of Otago

University of Otago

The University of Otago in Dunedin is New Zealand's oldest university with over 22,000 students enrolled during 2010.The university has New Zealand's highest average research quality and in New Zealand is second only to the University of Auckland in the number of A rated academic researchers it...

 from 2002 to 2008, and between 23 July 2004 and 30 September 2008 was on the board of directors for the New Zealand Railways Corporation

New Zealand Railways Corporation

KiwiRail Network, formerly ONTRACK , is the infrastructure arm of KiwiRail. The ONTRACK trading name was introduced in 2004 after the government repurchased all of New Zealand's rail infrastructure from Toll NZ. It does not operate revenue rolling stock...

.

Matthewson has a PhD

PHD

PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

 in Civil Engineering from the University of Canterbury

University of Canterbury

The University of Canterbury , New Zealand's second-oldest university, operates its main campus in the suburb of Ilam in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand...

, completed in 1970.