Three women who accused prominent New Zealand businessman Rod Drury of unwanted sexual contact say seeing him honoured as New Zealander of the Year pushed them to speak publicly about their experiences.
Drury has now returned the title, but maintains that the allegations against him are false.
“I completely reject the recent allegations about me,” Drury said after relinquishing the award.
The move follows an investigation by Stuff that detailed allegations from three women who claimed Drury engaged in unwanted physical contact while they worked for him. Two of the women have recently lodged complaints with the police, as reported by Stuff.
Drury founded accounting software company Xero in 2005 and served as its chief executive for more than a decade. He was knighted in the 2026 New Year Honours and awarded the supreme New Zealander of the Year title in March.
He has denied wrongdoing, describing the allegations as “unfounded” and insisting any relationships were consensual and mutual, as quoted by Stuff.
In a statement released Friday, the New Zealander of the Year Awards Office confirmed Drury had returned the honour.
“The New Zealander of the Year Awards exist to celebrate those whose contributions strengthen Aotearoa New Zealand and reflect the values of leadership, service, integrity and respect for others,” the statement said.
“Any matter that undermines or calls into question those values is not consistent with the standards and expectations we hold for the Awards programme.
“The 2026 New Zealander of the Year Award will not be re-awarded,” Stuff has quoted.
Drury said he decided to hand back the title to avoid further pressure on the organisation.
“While I completely reject the recent allegations about me, I do not want the current situation to undermine the integrity of the awards or place further pressure on a great organisation before the relevant investigations and proper processes have been completed.
“The Awards Office should not be put in the position of having to deal with matters that do not involve them while those processes are underway,” as quoted by Stuff.
One of the women, former Xero employee Ally Naylor, said she decided to speak publicly after seeing Drury receive the award.
“Because he stood up and accepted an award for New Zealander of the year,” she said. “The best New Zealander.”
Naylor alleged Drury invited her to his apartment during her time at Xero for meetings connected to work. She claimed the first incident occurred after accepting an invitation to dinner.
“As he was walking me to the door he kind of like stopped the door and was like, ‘I just really want to kiss you’, and I was like um sorry no.. this is just like a lot for my head,” Stuff has quoted.
Naylor said she later filed a complaint through Xero’s whistleblower process in 2017, alleging Drury kissed her and touched her inappropriately.
“He also began to feel underneath my breasts. I froze and a few moments later said I couldn’t do this and left the apartment.”
When approached by Stuff, Drury declined to discuss Naylor specifically.
“Anything is private between people,” he said. “And I think she was a great employee and a really good person.”
Asked why he invited female employees to his apartment, he replied: “That’s private business. I had lots of different friendships,” Stuff has quoted.
A second former employee, identified only as Amy, also alleged unwanted physical contact after visiting Drury’s apartment for what she believed was a discussion about a job opportunity.
“The time just went by, and then it got dark and he dimmed the lights. And I remember thinking ‘This is really weird, he’s not going to talk to me about this job’,” as reported by Stuff.
Amy claimed Drury later kissed her unexpectedly.
“And then he just grabbed me and kissed me up against the wall. And I was like, ‘Hey, you’re married. You can’t do this’.”
She said she later left the apartment in tears.
“And I went downstairs and I went on the street and I just started crying. And I walked home, and I just cried all the way home.”
Drury responded by saying: “Any other relationships I had over that period were consensual and mutual.”
A third woman, Megan Ruddle, alleged Drury repeatedly kissed her while she worked as a chef on his luxury catamaran and later at his Queenstown meeting house Taramea.
Ruddle claimed Drury kissed her on the lips “easily over 50 times” and referred to her as “Hot chef Megan”.
“And his face would find my face. I would never kiss back. I would be tense and rigid,” she said. “It felt like he was getting satisfaction out of being able to do something, despite knowing that it made me very uncomfortable,” Stuff has quoted.
Drury denied Ruddle’s allegations, calling them “unfounded”.
“At no time was there any form of intimate or physical relationship, nor did I ever try to initiate one,” Stuff has quoted.
Ruddle said Drury receiving public honours motivated her to come forward.
“It didn't paint the right picture of the character that he has. I felt that New Zealand deserved to know the real Rod Drury,” as quoted by Stuff.
Amy said she was “devastated” when Drury was knighted and later angered by his New Zealander of the Year recognition.
“Which was less upsetting and more pure anger,” she said, “because you’re just taking the f…ing piss now. You’re baiting people to say something about what you’ve done,” as quoted by Stuff.
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