Kara Puketapu-Dentice

Kara was born and raised in Wainuiomata and is of Te Āti Awa and Ngāi Tūhoe descent. Kara is the Chairperson of Taranaki Whānui ki te Upoko o Te Ika and holds various other governance positions throughout his iwi and local community.

Alongside Kara’s governance roles, he is the Director of Economy and Development at Hutt City Council. In this role, he is responsible for housing, procurement, community assets and facilities, transport, urban development, business, and economy and significant and transformational projects such as Riverlink.

Kara holds a Master of Planning and Resource Management from the University of Otago. In 2015 Kara participated in the Asia Pacific Leadership Programme at the East-West Centre in Hawaii. Later in 2019, Kara was selected as an emerging leader to be a part of the Obama Foundation Asia Pacific Leadership Forum held in Malaysia.