Lynette Merle Stewart CNZM (née Peters, born 1943 or 1944) is a New Zealand executive specialising in governance of health organisations.[1][2]
Stewart was born in Whangārei and grew up in Whananaki. Her siblings include politician Winston Peters, Northland Regional Councillor Jim Peters and Northland Rugby Union chairman Wayne Peters.[3] She is Māori, of Ngātiwai, Patuharakeke, and Tainui iwi.[2] She earned a master's degree from the University of Auckland with a thesis examining the significance of Māori health providers within the New Zealand health system.[4]
She was chair of the Northland District Health Board from 2001 to 2009.[5] She then went on to serve as head of Kia Ora Ngati Wai Health Trust.[6] Stewart has also served as a member of the National Health Committee, the Public Health Advisory Committee and the Health Workforce Advisory Committee. She was a member of the ACC Review Committee, the Treaty of Waitangi Public Information Advisory Programme Board, the Maori Rural Training Consortium and is a past president of the New Zealand Association of Social Workers.[3]
In 2003, Stewart received the Dame Mira Szazy Maori Business Leadership Award from the University of Auckland Business School. In the 2006 Queen's Birthday Honours, she was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to health administration.[7] In 2008 she received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Auckland.[2]