Aroha Te Pareake Mead (Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Porou and Tūhourangi) is an independent Māori researcher specialising in mātauranga Māori/Indigenous knowledge, biocultural heritage, Indigenous cultural and intellectual property policy and law and biotechnology and conservation. Aroha has worked across sectors, including public policy, academia, journalism, iwi and Māori organisations, as well as national and international NGOs. Her current roles include being a member of Te Rūnanga on Ngāti Awa, as well as member of the Māori Advisory Trademarks Committee and the Repatriation Advisory Panel of Te Papa Tongarewa the National Museum of NZ. Aroha chairs Te Rōpu Rangaputanga (Mānaki Whenua) and the Strategic Oversight Group for the Review of NZ’s Wildlife Act. Previous roles include the International Union for Conservation of Nature Governing Council (16 years), Global Chair, IUCN Commission on Environment, Economic and Social Policy (8 years), Fonterra Sustainability Advisory Panel, Greenpeace NZ Board member and Foreign Policy Convenor for Māori Congress.

Tania Pouwhare (Ngāi Tūhoe) is the Pouhahukura at Mana Ātea. Prior to that, Tania was the General Manager of Auckland Council’s social innovation department, The Southern Initiative, which focused on just, inclusive, circular and regenerative economic development. Her work spanned social procurement, Māori and Pasifika entrepreneurship, active labour market policies, the Green New Deal, the politics of the urban diaspora and democratising wealth and economic power. She was also formerly the head of policy and campaigns at a UK women’s rights organisation and started her career as a policy analyst with NZ Women’s Refuge. Tania is a founder of Aotearoa’s supplier diversity intermediary, Amotai, an honorary fellow of Engineering NZ and a senior fellow at the Atlantic Fellowship for Social Equity. She also represents Ngā Toki Whakarururanga on the civil society advisory group for the UK-NZ FTA Labour Sub-committee

Peter-Lucas Jones (Co-Convenor) (Te Aupōuri, Ngāi Takoto, Te Rarawa, and Ngāti Kahu) is a visionary leader at the forefront of Māori language revitalization through technology and media.

As CEO of Te Hiku Media, he spearheads the development of cutting-edge te reo Māori natural language processing tools, including speech-to-text and text-to-speech systems, and indigenous language pronunciation modelling transforming the digital landscape for Indigenous languages. A passionate advocate for intergenerational language transmission, Indigenous data sovereignty, and AI-driven language data licensing, Peter-Lucas plays a pivotal role in shaping the future of Māori language use in the digital age. His expertise in corpus development and AI innovation has positioned Te Hiku Media as a global leader in Indigenous language technology.

Peter-Lucas was named to TIME Magazine’s 100 AI list for 2024—an achievement that underscores his impact on the global movement for Indigenous language preservation through artificial intelligence. This year, he was also honoured with the Te Tihi Award at the Tai Tokerau Māori Business Awards for his efforts in promoting Māori Data Sovereignty globally and leveraging AI to preserve language and culture.

He holds key governance roles, including Chair of Te Rūnanga Nui o Te Aupōuri, the Te Aupōuri Treaty Settlement Trust, Te Whakaruruhau o Ngā Reo Irirangi Māori, and Deputy Chair of Whakaata Māori.

Potaua Biasiny-Tule (Te Arawa, Ngāi Tūhoe, Te Whakatōhea and Niue) is a passionate Māori IT advocate who has worked in the digital industry for over 20 years. Along with his wife Nikolasa, they have supported the next generation of digital Māori leaders with the establishment of Digital Natives Academy (DNA) in Rotorua, building a connected Māori ecosystem across Aotearoa New Zealand and the world. Potaua has a political science degree from Canterbury University and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Māori Development from Waikato University where he lectured in the School of Business and Management. Potaua served on the Ministerial Advisory Board for Digital Inclusion and Digital Economy in 2018 under Hon. Minister Claire Curran. He is currently a board member of InternetNZ, chairing its Te Komiti Whakauru Māori sub-committee, and between 2013-2022 sat on the Rotorua Lakes Council as a Te Arawa representative. He is also a Trustee for Te Takinga Marae.

Julie Paama-Pengelly (Ngāi Tuwhiwhia, Ngāi Tauaiti, Ngāti Tapu and Ngāi te Rangi) is an artist and champion of Māori arts who enjoys working on her own art with a vision for the big picture stuff with respect to Māori development. Over thirty years ago, she was the first wāhine in the tā moko revival space. Julie actively advocates, educates and practices across a range of tools from her tā moko studio, Art + Body, and exhibits her works both nationally and overseas. Julie chairs Te Tuhi Mareikura Trust which leads Tauranga Moana Māori arts development through a number of initiatives, which includes the successful annual Toi Kiri: World International Indigenous Tatau Festival 2022. Julie has a MMVA (Hons) and MPhil (Dev Studies).

Jessica Hutchings (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Huirapa and Gujarati) is nationally and internationally recognised as a leader in Indigenous food systems and Māori food and soil sovereignty. Dr Hutchings also holds a range of governance and leadership roles in the science sector, including on the Science Board at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, the Resilience to Nature’s Challenges National Science Challenge and is a founding Trustee of the Papawhakaritorito Charitable Trust that works to uplift Māori kai and soil sovereignty and hua parakore (Māori organics) through research, development and community practice. She lives on 12 acres and is a hua parakore verified whānau food grower. Jessica is also a widely published author, including recent books, Te Mahi Oneone Hua Parakore: A Māori Soil Sovereignty and Wellbeing Handbook (Freerange Press 2020), and Te Mahi Māra Hua Parakore: A Māori Food Sovereignty Handbook (Te Tākupu, 2015). Dr Hutchings has been working at the crossroads of Indigenous knowledge, whānau and environmental wellbeing for the last three decades and is passionate about Indigenous social justice and self-determination.

 

India Logan-Riley (Ngāti Kahungunu ki Ngāti Hawea, Rongomaiwahine and Rangitāne) is the Climate Justice Organiser at ActionStation and a community researcher for the research project, Generation Kāinga. They bring a background in Māori heritage spaces and lived experience of climate injustice to their mahi in a broad range of areas from United Nations climate negotiations to harakeke roots work on #LandBack kaupapa with rangatahi Māori and Pasifika. India dreams of resilient communities where everyone is safe and joyful, and is excited for Ngā Toki Whakarururanga to be a part of bringing that vision into reality.

Dr George Laking (Te Whakatōhea) is a medical oncologist at Te Pūriri o Te Ora Northern Regional Cancer and Blood Service where he is helping to develop a community-based model of cancer care. His other roles include Director of Te Aka Mātauranga Matepukupu, the Centre for Cancer Research at the University of Auckland, and Medical Director of the Cancer Society of New Zealand. His previous roles included chair of Te ORA (the Māori Medical Practitioners’ Association), Aotearoa New Zealand President in the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, and member of PHARMAC’s Pharmacology and Therapeutics Advisory Committee. George is an executive board member of OraTaiao, the New Zealand Climate and Health Council. During the TPPA negotiations he played a key role in Doctors for Healthy Trade. His PhD thesis was written on the economic meaning of diagnosis.

Donna Kerridge (Ngāti Tahinga and Ngāti Mahuta) is the founder and director of Ora New Zealand. She serves as member of the Accident Compensation Corporation’s Rongoā Advisory Panel and is the principal advisor and contracted negotiator for Te Kāhui Rongoā, the national collective of rongoā Māori healers, with the Ministry of Health. Donna also provides advisory services to a number of universities, research, professional and private training organisations and has served on a number of government expert advisory groups representing the practice of rongoā. Donna looks forward to the day when these functions are no longer required because mātauranga Māori will be so imbedded in all that we do here in Aotearoa New Zealand. Then she can return to the quiet life of making rongoā, ministering to whānau and running the odd rongoā training programme to support the next generation of healers – her retirement plan!

Moana Maniapoto (Co-convenor) (Te Arawa and Ngāti Tūwharetoa) is a singer, songwriter, documentary maker, journalist and Art Laureate. A long-time advocate for te reo music, she was a co-founder of the Māori Music Industry Coalition and was inducted into the 2016 NZ Music Hall of Fame (APRA-Amcos). Moana is a trustee of Toi Iho, a registered and globally recognised trademark of quality and authenticity of Māori art and artists. The Māori Made Mark is acknowledged as an exceptional cultural initiative by-and-for Māori by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), in Geneva. Between 2019-2020, Moana was appointed to the South East Asia Advisory Committee by the Taiwan Minister of Culture. Her internationally feted documentary on intellectual property and mātauranga Māori, Guarding the Family Silver, was produced in response to the trade marking of her name by a German company. That experience led to her providing evidence in both the Wai 262 and Wai 2252 claims, where she was a claimant. Moana also travelled Japan to speak to union, peace, activist and student groups about Indigenous concerns around the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA). Her recent documentary portrait Moana Jackson: Portrait of a Quiet Revolutionary explored the genesis of Māori participation in the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and documented the lead-up to Matike Mai. Moana is the associate producer, host and journalist for the award-winning current affairs show Te Ao with Moana on Whakaata Māori. She graduated from University of Auckland with an LLB and in 2019 was made a Distinguished Alumni.