10 Knights Grand Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit

Sir Raymond John Avery is a New Zealand pharmaceutical scientist, inventor, author and social entrepreneur in Mount Eden, Auckland, New Zealand.

Sir William Francis Birch, usually known as Bill Birch, is a New Zealand retired politician. He served as Minister of Finance from 1993 to 1999 in the fourth National Government.

Sir Murray Frederick Brennan is a New Zealand surgeon, oncologist, cancer researcher, and academic. From 1985 to 2006, he was chairman of the surgery department of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, United States.

Sir Paul Terence Callaghan was a New Zealand physicist who, as the founding director of the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology at Victoria University of Wellington, held the position of Alan MacDiarmid Professor of Physical Sciences and was President of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance.

Sir Lloyd George Geering is a New Zealand theologian who faced charges of heresy in 1967 for his controversial views. He considers Christian and Muslim fundamentalism to be "social evils". Geering is Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies at Victoria University of Wellington. He turned 100 in February 2018.

Sir Michael Hardie Boys, is a New Zealand retired lawyer, judge, and jurist who served as the 17th Governor-General of New Zealand, in office from 1996 to 2001.

Sir John Phillip Key is a New Zealand retired politician who served as the 38th prime minister of New Zealand from 2008 to 2016 and as Leader of the New Zealand National Party from 2006 to 2016. After resigning from both posts in December 2016 and leaving politics, Key was appointed to board of director and chairmanship roles in New Zealand corporations.

Lieutenant General Sir Jeremiah Mateparae, is a former New Zealand soldier who served as the 20th Governor-General of New Zealand between 2011 and 2016, the second Māori person to hold the office, after Sir Paul Reeves. A former officer in the New Zealand Army, he was Chief of the New Zealand Defence Force from 2006 to 2011, and then served as the director of the New Zealand Government Communications Security Bureau for five months in 2011. Following his term as governor-general, Mateparae was the High Commissioner of New Zealand to the United Kingdom between 2017 and 2020.

Sir Anand Satyanand, is a former lawyer, judge and ombudsman who served as the 19th Governor-General of New Zealand from 2006 to 2011.

Sir Stephen Robert Tindall is the founder of New Zealand retailer The Warehouse, The Warehouse Group, and the Tindall Foundation.