Ray Avery was named the 2010 New Zealander of the Year. The award recognises Kiwis who make a major contribution to the nation and inspire through their achievements. He was awarded the Sir Peter Blake medal for leadership in the same year.

Ray Avery is a successful businessman, scientist, entrepreneur, inventor and humanitarian, Kiwibank New Zealander of the year 2010, Ray shares, for the first time, his own heartbreaking childhood and inspirational story of one man’s determination to change the world in this candid and often laugh-out-loud funny memoir, ‘Rebel with a Cause’. He was awarded the 2010 Peter Blake Medal for Leadership, New Zealand’s premier leadership honour — is literally saving millions of lives in the developing countries through invention, ground-breaking technology and his unrelenting determination that “one man can change the world” and make it a better place for the most vulnerable.

Following in the footsteps of the marvellous Fred Hollows, Ray has made modern cataract surgery accessible to the poor throughout Africa and Asia. In addition, Rayy invented an inexpensive regulator for hospital drips when he found out that lives were being needlessly lost in hospitals due to uneven flows; he’s developing easily digestible infant food to combat malnutrition and diarrhoea; and he’s created more affordable and effective incubators for newborns.

Although he is British born Ray is a passionate Kiwi through and through and as a creative thinker he has thrived in this “classless” land of opportunity where anything is possible for which he’ll be forever grateful.

He’s clever, tenacious, he’s always pulling things apart and he’s always looking for new or better ways of doing things. He’s also street-smart and his irrepressible enthusiasm makes it also very hard for people to say no to him and he has managed to get other wealthy individuals and organisations on board to assist in his remarkable fundraising efforts.

Ray also encourages other talented people to get on board and tackle some of the really big problems confronting the poor in developing countries.

From his “garage”, Ray today manages a global network of experts to work on specific projects and somehow everyone finds themselves donating their time and knowledge for free – and they, too, are rewarded by making a difference and so the circle closes.