The New Zealand MSA Branch has awarded the 2025 Metrologist Award to Chris Woudenberg — a trailblazer whose influence within the NZ measurement community has been profound. The award was announced and presented by award sponsor Dean Van Buuren of DE Group, at the recent World Metrology Day event held in Wellington.
What makes Chris’s story truly unique is that, unlike many of his peers, he has no formal tertiary education. Yet over more than 35 years, he has defied convention, disrupted the status quo, and innovated calibration techniques and processes. While his lack of formal academic training has enabled him to think differently — Chris has always strived through determination and hard work to achieve technical excellence.
While Chris is best known for founding and leading a respected and successful New Zealand calibration business, the Metrologist Award is about more than business success. It recognises his tireless and selfless contributions to the broader NZ metrology community — contributions that have had a lasting impact across the country and beyond.
One of Chris’s most notable achievements has been his advocacy around the correct use and maintenance of Backflow Prevention kits — vital devices that ensure waste water doesn’t contaminate drinking water supplies. His work in educating end-users and raising awareness about the importance of regular testing has helped protect public health on a national scale.
He also played a key role in ensuring that New Zealand laboratories adopted correct and consistent test points in their calibration processes. His advocacy ultimately influenced a revision of the MSA Test Method — a standard now widely adopted throughout Australasia.
Chris’s commitment to knowledge-sharing has been equally significant. Over the years, he has organised numerous training events, not just for his own staff, but for the benefit of all New Zealand metrologists. These open-access training sessions have helped lift the standard of calibration and measurement across the country.
Arguably, Chris’s most enduring legacy is the foresight that led to the establishment of the NZ branch of the MSA itself. In 2011, it was his vision that brought together calibration laboratories (many of them direct competitors) for the first time in a single room. His goal was to start a New Zealand Pressure Association. What began as a single meeting evolved into something far greater — the birth of the NZ branch of the MSA.
Chris’s journey is a powerful reminder that formal qualifications are not the only path to excellence. Passion, vision, and a deep commitment to bettering one’s field can leave a legacy every bit as valuable. Chris is a most deserving recipient of the 2025 NZ MSA Metrologist Award.
