Diane Foreman
{{Short description|New Zealand entrepreneur}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=November 2024}}
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Diane Shirley Foreman {{post-nominals|country=NZL|CNZM}} is a New Zealand businesswoman. In 2012 Foreman was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to business. She was inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame in 2024.
Early life and education
Foreman was born in 1960 or 1961 to a teenage mother, and was adopted into a working-class family.{{Cite news |last=Nissen |first=Wendyl |title=Diane Foreman on love, loyalty, being married to Paul Henry and the secrets to her success |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/diane-foreman-on-love-loyalty-being-married-to-paul-henry-and-the-secrets-to-her-success/GF7HPVVSA4CPHG2KGT2CIUF6WU/ |access-date=21 Nov 2024 |work=The New Zealand Herald }} She says that they didn't value education for girls, "I was told that education for girls was unnecessary and all you needed was straight teeth and an ability to type".{{Cite news |last=Posselt |first=Viv |date=11 Jan 2024 |title=Straight teeth and sheer good luck |url=https://wbn.co.nz/2024/01/11/straight-teeth-and-sheer-good-luck/ |access-date=21 Nov 2024 |work=Waikato Business News}} Foreman left school at 15 and worked as a shorthand typist. By 18 she was married and working as a secretary for Robert Kerridge. By her early twenties the marriage had ended and she had two children. Foreman also worked as a medical practice manager and a real estate agent.
Business career
Foreman married businessman Bill Foreman in 1988, and was his third wife. He was thirty years older than her. Foreman was appointed to the board of Bill's plastics company Trigon Packaging Systems as Bill's representative when he had a stroke.{{Cite news |last=Gibson |first=Anne |last2=du Chateau |first2=Carroll |date=15 Sep 2006 |title=All the way to the top with the help of a little blonde ambition |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/all-the-way-to-the-top-with-the-help-of-a-little-blonde-ambition/SBHTRSCMGEPFCSOLMPO56HUHSY/ |work=The New Zealand Herald }} Foreman managed the sale of the company. The couple set up an investment company, Emerald Group, which had real estate, recruitment, hotel, and food components.{{Cite web |title=Diane Foreman – RHUB Conference |url=https://rhub.co.nz/i/diane-foreman/ |access-date=2024-11-20 |language=en-AU}}{{Cite news |last=du Chateau |first=Carroll |date=3 Dec 2015 |title=At home with Kiwi ice cream entrepreneur Diane Foreman |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/nz-life-leisure/74495371/at-home-with-kiwi-ice-cream-entrepreneur-diane-foreman |access-date=21 Nov 2024 |work=Stuff }}
In 2015 Foreman published In the Arena, a book on entrepreneurship.{{Cite web |title=Diane Foreman |url=https://www.penguin.co.nz/authors/diane-foreman |access-date=2024-11-20 |website=www.penguin.co.nz |language=en}}
Honours and awards
In 2009 Foreman was named Ernst & Young's New Zealand Entrepreneur of the Year.{{Cite web |title=Diane Foreman |url=https://www.businesshalloffame.co.nz/current-laureates/diane-foreman |access-date=2024-11-20 |website=Business Hall of Fame |language=en-NZ}} In the 2012 New Year Honours Foreman was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to business.{{Cite web |date=2011-12-31 |title=New Year Honours List 2012 {{!}} Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC) |url=https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/publications/new-year-honours-list-2012 |access-date=2024-11-20 |website=www.dpmc.govt.nz |language=en}} In 2018 Foreman was awarded a NEXT Woman of the Year: Lifetime Achievement Award.{{Cite web |date=2018-10-11 |title=Congratulations Professor Philippa Howden-Chapman - NEXT Woman Of The Year 2018! |url=https://www.nowtolove.co.nz/lifestyle/career/philippa-howden-chapman-next-woman-of-the-year-2018-39334/ |access-date=2024-11-20 |website=Now to Love - New Zealand |language=en-AU}} In 2024 she was inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame.
Personal life
Foreman says she separated from Bill Foreman around 2006.{{Cite news |last=Milne |first=Rebecca |date=21 June 2009 |title=Foreman tells of a new love and old friends |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/foreman-tells-of-a-new-love-and-old-friends/GNYV2DXHCBNLCNRZCHJJV5FGXI/ |work=Herald Online}} Foreman had an affair with then-Reserve Bank governor Don Brash before the end of his second marriage. Foreman refused to confirm the allegations, but Brash wrote about the relationship in his 2014 autobiography.{{Cite news |date=10 April 2014 |title=Brash bares all in book |url=https://www.odt.co.nz/news/politics/brash-bares-all-book |access-date=21 Nov 2014 |work=Otago Daily Times }}{{Cite news |last=Fisher |first=David |date=17 Sep 2006 |title=The 'other woman' breaks her silence |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/the-other-woman-breaks-her-silence/ZKBMUAW5UIJ57EE5DX22KF4JHU/ |work=The New Zealand Herald}}
Foreman married broadcaster Paul Henry in 2020.{{Cite web |last=Coast |date=14 March 2020 |title=Paul Henry is set to marry his long-term partner this weekend |url=https://www.thecoast.net.nz/news/paul-henry-is-set-to-marry-his-long-term-partner-this-weekend/ |access-date=2024-11-20 |website=Coast |language=en}}
References
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Category:New Zealand businesswomen by century