Wendy Pye

Dame Wendy Edith Pye DNZM MBE (born 1943)[2] is a publisher from New Zealand. Her company, Wendy Pye Group, is considered one of the world's most successful educational export companies.[3]

Dame Wendy Pye

DNZM MBE
Pye in 2019
Born1943 (age 79–80)
Cookernup, Western Australia
NationalityNew Zealander[1]
OccupationPublisher
SpouseDonald Norman Pye

Pye was born in Cookernup, in rural Western Australia, the youngest of four daughters.[1] After finishing high school, she studied at secretarial school, but left to take a position as a copywriter at a radio station in Perth when she was 17 years old. Four years later she moved to New Zealand and joined the New Zealand News group.[1] She progressed through the company, holding positions managing its magazine and trade publication divisions, and selling its children's books in the United States. In 1985 Brierly Investments bought and restructured the company and she was made redundant at the age of 42.[4]

She decided to move into educational publishing and established Sunshine Books, specialising in early reading and mathematics books, and concentrated on selling in the United States.[5] In 1994 her United States business was bought out and she began to develop new markets in Australia and Asia.[5][6] By 2010 her firm had eight offices worldwide, and Pye was one of the richest women in New Zealand.[7] The company was one of the first to use digital and CD-Rom technology to develop multi-media educational materials, such as computer-animated numeracy and literacy resources.[8]

Awards and recognition

In 1993, Pye was awarded the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal.[9]

In the 1994 New Year Honours, Pye was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire, for services to export.[10]

In 2004, Pye was inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame: she was the first living woman to be so recognised.[3][11][12]

In the 2013 New Year Honours, Pye was appointed a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to business and education.[13] In 2014, she won the Business Entrepreneur category at the New Zealand Women of Influence Awards.[13] In 2017, she won the NEXT Woman of the Year award in the Education category.[14]

References
  1. Bailey, Judy (1 November 2016). "Untitled". Australian Women's Weekly NZ. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  2. Hayward, Janine; Shaw, Richard (2016). Historical dictionary of New Zealand (3rd ed.). Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 241. ISBN 9781442274396. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
  3. "Dame Wendy Pye honoured at ceremony". Stuff. 27 June 2013. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  4. "Pye, Wendy Edith". www.businesshalloffame.co.nz. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  5. "New Zealand's Wendy Pye adds digital to her reading campaign". Forbes. 1 June 2016. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  6. Caffin, Elizabeth (22 October 2014). "Publishing in the 1980s and 1990s". Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand. New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  7. Caffin, Elizabeth (22 October 2014). "Wendy Pye". Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  8. Derby, Mark (11 March 2010). "Knowledge-based industries". Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand. New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  9. "The New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal 1993 – register of recipients". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 26 July 2018. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
  10. "No. 53528". The London Gazette (2nd supplement). 31 December 1993. p. 34.
  11. "Tea for two: Dame Wendy Pye". RadioLIVE. 9 April 2017. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  12. Lin, Tao (4 April 2016). "History to blame for lack of women in NZ Business Hall of Fame". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  13. Walters, Laura (3 August 2015). "Women of Influence alumni: Dame Wendy Pye". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  14. Clifton, Emma. "NEXT Woman of the Year winners' stories". Now To Love. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
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