Sir Ronald Trotter was the first chairman of the New Zealand Business Roundtable in its present form, a position he held from 1985 to 1990.

Among his many other roles he has been chief executive and chairman of Fletcher Challenge Limited, chairman of the Steering Committee of the 1984 Economic Summit, a director of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, chairman of the State-owned Enterprises Advisory Committee, chairman of Telecom Corporation, chairman of the National Interim Provider Board, a chairman or director of several major New Zealand and Australian companies, and chairman of the board of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

He was knighted in 1985 for services to business. He died on 10 August 2010. This lecture was instituted in 1995 by the New Zealand Business Roundtable to mark Sir Ronald Trotter’s many contributions to public affairs in New Zealand. It is given annually by a distinguished international speaker on a major topic of public policy.

The fifteenth Sir Ronald Trotter lecture was given by Noel Pearson at the Auckland War Memorial Museum on 2 November 2010.