Xiaomei (Sherry) Dong

Sherry moved with her husband Eden and 11-year-old daughter Ella from China to New Zealand to study her master's degree at Waikato.  

She started her working life as a chemical material buyer in a chemical plant for Mitsubishi, then she joined General Electric (GE), where she started as a buyer, then master planner and finally an operations manager.  

“My career has really been in the supply chain, and I knew I wanted to study a Master of Management focusing on Supply Chain Management. I knew Waikato had one of the best business schools in New Zealand, so I wanted to come here,” says Sherry. 

“New Zealand is beautiful. I also had friends who sent me pictures of the Hamilton gardens and Mount Maunganui in Tauranga. The environment is amazing.”  

Sherry received the Vice-Chancellor's International Excellence Scholarship for China to support her studies and says her master’s degree has reinforced what she had learned in her role at GE and broadened her knowledge of New Zealand supply chain logistics. 

While studying she worked 20 hours a week at the Kmart distribution centre at the Ruakura Inland Port in Hamilton, which is Kmart’s main base where imported products get sorted and sent to stores all over New Zealand. 

“The Ruakura Inland Port also attracted me to Waikato. New Zealand relies heavily on imports and also exporting its primary products. In China we manufacture more, so our supply chains are quite different,” says Sherry. 

She says her master’s degree helped her understand the relationships needed by importers in New Zealand with suppliers, as well as the delicate import and export relationship needed for efficient supply chain management from New Zealand ports to market. 

“My studies really helped me to understand the New Zealand market and what the future of supply chains will look like as we develop inland ports like Ruakura. It also helped with my leadership knowledge,” says Sherry. 

“The lecturers at Waikato do a great job. We had a very diverse class from very experienced to new undergraduates, and people from all over the world. I loved that I got to learn with them all,” says Sherry.