On Friday night, three very special St Peter’s alumni were presented with the highest school honour - to become Distinguished Alumni. This prestigious annual award is now in its third year, and for the first time recognised two women - Anna Mowbray comes from a well-known and high-achieving St Peter’s family, and Camille Buscomb is a name known to anyone who follows New Zealand athletics. The third award presented on Friday was to Antarctic surveyor and geologist, Peter Otway.
Complimentary photos of the evening have been made available by Picture Show. Download them here.
Anna Mowbray with her parents Linda and Harry Mowbray.
Anna Mowbray (1997 – 2001)
Anna is a co-founder and COO of ZURU Toys, the eight largest privately-owned toy company in the world. She is the backbone of the organisation, overseeing HR, operations, marketing, distribution, new product development, investments and finance. She leads a team more than 10,000 employees spread over 18 offices worldwide, championing a two-thirds female workforce. With a passion for supporting women in impoverished environments through the My First Job programme, she is dedicated to making a positive impact on our planet.
Anna is a NZ Entrepreneur of the Year winner and is the youngest woman currently running a major global toy company. She was named 2020 Wonder Woman in Manufacturing by Women in Toys, Licensing and Entertainment. Her achievements include growing ZURU Toys, along with her two siblings, from its inception 14 years ago to the $600M+ business it is today, whilst raising three children under the age of eight and living in Asia.
Camille Buscomb presents at the Awards ceremony
Camille Buscomb (2005 – 2008)
On leaving St Peter’s in December 2008, Camille accepted an athletics scholarship to study at Purdue University in Indiana, USA. She competed for the track and cross-country teams, captaining the women’s cross-country team in her last semester. On returning to New Zealand, she completed a BA with a Psychology Major and English Minor at the University of Waikato. Whilst studying at Waikato, Camille was a recipient of the prestigious Sir Edmund Hillary Scholarship and Prime Minister’s Scholarship.
Camille holds over ten national senior titles on the track, road and cross-country. She was placed 2nd at the World University Games in 2015 in Gwanju, Korea, in the 5000m and narrowly missed competing in the 2014 Commonwealth Games and 2016 Rio Olympic Games. She has trained with Nic Bideau and the Melbourne Track Club since 2016, living as a full-time athlete. Camille qualified and competed for New Zealand at the 2017 World Championships in both the 5,000m and 10,000m events as well as for the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. She was placed 12th in the 2019 World Championships in Doha for the 5,000m and 10,000m events giving her automatic qualification for the Tokyo Olympic Games. Camille currently ranks number 2 all time in New Zealand for those events.
Peter Otway (1946-1950)
Peter Otway was born in 1936 and attended St Peter’s School (then a primary school) prior to four years at Te Awamutu College. He qualified as a surveyor in 1960 and spent four seasons in Antarctica mapping large tracts of virgin country (for which he was awarded the Polar Medal in 1978). Following further surveying adventures in North America, the UK, Libya and Iran, Peter joined a new group in the New Zealand Geological Survey (now GNS Science), in 1967 to survey and study earth deformation generated by plate tectonics, resulting in earthquakes and eruptions. This involved setting up and monitoring survey patters in New Zealand’s main earthquake regions and meant moving to Taupo.
Additional work on active volcanoes included Mt Erebus (Antarctica), Northwestern USA and Hawaii as part of international research to improve earthquake and eruption warning systems. After retiring, he spent a further five years running Taupo Volcano Tours around his favourite volcanoes, followed by public lectures on the reality of climate change. His book ‘Exploring the Transantarctic Mountains by Dog Sledge 1960-1962’ was published in 2019.
