Merepeka Raukawa-Tait
Chair, Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency

Merepeka (Te Arawa) has an impressive resume including being a small business owner, former CEO of Hospice West Auckland and former CEO of the NZ Women’s Refuge. The latter two positions made Merepeka the ideal Chair as she had first-hand experience with whānau who were on the knife edge, one exiting this world and the other trying to rediscover the new world.

Merepeka is a leading advocate for the rights of women & children and a strong public voice in the campaign to understand and prevent family violence. She also has a wealth of experience in the fields of business, management & politics.

Jamie Tuuta
Chair, Sealord

Jamie Tuuta, of Ngāti Mutunga, Ngāti Tama, Ngāti Maru, Te Ati Awa, Taranaki Tūturu descent, is an experienced Director with deep commercial and governance experience across various industries and sectors. Currently Chair of Maori Television and Tourism New Zealand and a Director of Moana New Zealand and a number of other boards, Jamie is committed to the broader iwi commercial landscape and is passionate about iwi success in the fisheries space.

Jamie is passionate about investment in innovation and increasing the capability and the economic and environmental performance of our primary industries, in particular the Maori pastoral and fishing sectors. He also has a keen interest in Maori economic development that is both profitable and sustainable and builds the necessary capability for future growth and success.

Chelsea Grootveld
Chair, JR McKenzie Trust

Chelsea (Ngāitai, Ngāti Porou, Whānau-ā-Apanui, Whakatōhea and Te Arawa) is a seasoned governor with over 20 years public policy, Kaupapa Māori research and evaluation experience. Chelsea has experience leading a range of Kaupapa Māori evaluations in health, education and the social sector.

Chelsea is currently on the board of High-Performance Sport New Zealand and CORE Education Limited. She is most passionate about whānau centred and whānau led education, health and wellbeing and has a strong commitment to creating values-based research and evaluation models that make sense and add value to whānau, hapū, iwi and communities.

Karen Vercoe
Sport New Zealand

Karen has held various leadership roles in business and governance. She was formerly the chairperson of the Data Iwi Leaders Group and Te Pūmautanga o Te Arawa. She was a Director of Central North Island Iwi Holdings Ltd. She is a recognised Iwi leader nationally and within Te Arawa and was mandated to lead the COVID-19 response on behalf of Te Arawa Iwi and Hapū in 2020.

Ms. Vercoe is a former New Zealand double international sportswoman in rugby and touch. She was a member of the government-appointed Ministerial Advisory Group Upholding Treaty Settlements Panel for the Ministry for the Environment and an external advisor to the Office of the Privacy Commission. She was also the author of Sport NZ’s Māori Participation in Sport Review in 2017.

Tania Simpson
Sustainable Seas National Science Challenge

Tania Te Rangingangana Simpson (Tainui, Ngāi Tahu, Ngāpuhi) is a celebrated leader and governor specializing in Māori Development, Treaty of Waitangi partnerships and Corporate Governance. She was recently recognised as an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to governance and Māori.

She has served 15 years (and counting) with the Waitangi Tribunal. Previous to this, she managed the Office of Treaty Settlements and helped broker the return of the wharenui, Mataatua, to Ngāti Awa in 1996. It had been away for so long that many iwi members did not even know it existed.

She chairs the Sustainable Seas National Science Challenge and is also on the boards of the Deep South National Science Challenge and Waste Management NZ. This is inspired by her optimism about issues others worry about, such as climate change and food security. Even the pandemic, had her appreciating the way Māori and the government worked together to support communities in need.