Kevin Hickman Retirement Village

Each Ryman village is named in honour of a Kiwi or Aussie trailblazer: Anthony Wilding, Lady Diana Isaac, Evelyn Page. They pushed further and set the bar high for others to aspire to. In creating communities that challenge the expectations of ageing, Ryman villages are also setting the bar high. They’re demonstrating that a retirement lifestyle brimming with new experiences, connections and fulfilment is something we should aspire to. Our Kiwi and Aussie namesakes represent the measure of inspiration, while Ryman villages represent the measure of retirement living.

Kevin Hickman

Kevin Hickman ONZM is a serial entrepreneur. A highly competitive innovator, Kevin saw an opportunity to deliver better quality healthcare in Aotearoa.

A co-founder of Ryman Healthcare, Kevin was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his service to aged care and sport. He and John Ryder formed Ryman after Kevin was called to investigate a rest home fire in Christchurch.

Having left school to join the New Zealand Police, Kevin quickly rose through the ranks to become a detective. An entrepreneur at heart, Kevin left the police in the early 1980s to set up an independent investigation business. John Ryder provided Kevin with accountancy advice.

In 1983 Kevin was called to investigate a rest home fire. He didn’t like what he saw. The rest home residents lacked both privacy and dignity. And he thought to himself that he’d never want his mother living in those conditions. Kevin saw an opportunity to do better. He and John Ryder formed Ryman Healthcare – a combination of their names – with a vision to provide care that “had to be good enough for mum”.

He and John had already owned a number of companies together. From a backpacker hostel to a chain of garden centers, so the duo knew what it took to build a successful company. Kevin applied his passion and drive to pioneering a long line of firsts in the New Zealand retirement industry and Ryman Healthcare grew to become the largest operator in Aotearoa.

While business kept him busy, Kevin always made time for his other passion: sport. A keen sportsman and athletics coach in his spare time, he was named New Zealand Athletics Coach of the year in 1999. Upon retirement as Managing Director of Ryman in 2006, Kevin shifted his focus to building his Matamata thoroughbred horse stud, Valachi Downs, with his wife Joanna. Their thoroughbred filly Silent Achiever won the New Zealand Derby in 2012.

Kevin remained a Ryman Board director until retiring from the post in 2018. In addition to his ONZM, Kevin and John Ryder were inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame in 2020.