Deryck Shaw has had more than 30 years involved in governance in education, health and disabilities, social services, tourism and sports and recreation sectors and more than 38 years as a business owner. 

For the first 12 years of Deryck's life, he grew up on a dairy farm over in the Whakatane District between Awakeri and Poroporo and attended Awakeri Primary School and then on to Whakatane Intermediate and Whakatane High School. Tertiary educated at Waikato, Lincoln and Canterbury universities, he has been involved in many projects in the Bay of Plenty Region and has lived in Whakatane, Taupo and Rotorua for much of his life.

He has a number of professional memberships including being a Chartered Fellow of the NZ Institute of Directors; Member of the New Zealand Association of Economists; Associate Fellow of New Zealand Institute of Management; Member of New Zealand Planning Institute; Foundation Member of Royal Society of New Zealand and Member, NZ Research Association.

In 2014, he was named Rotorua Businessperson of the Year and a Member of the NZ Order of Merit and was an inaugural recipient of the Distinguished Alumnae Award of the University of Waikato in 2007.

He has a number of business interests in tourism, property and consultancy and is currently Chair of Te Puia (New Zealand Maori Arts and Crafts Institute); Director, Waimangu Volcanic Valley and Waitangi Ltd