Tech is good for Māori – and Māori is good for Tech. Dan will discuss how valuable your pūkenga is in technology spaces. Utilising your skills and mātauranga you can turn cultural tax into cultural credit.

This workshop will focus on an overview of micro-credentials in tech and AI, how to sign up for training and what kind of roles are tech hiring for now. It will include group discussions on how Māori can create spaces of mana motuhake within tech.

Dan Walker
Tangahoe, Ngāti Ruanui, Ngāruahine, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairoa, Te Atiawa, Maniapoto, Tūhourangi, and Pākehā.

Raised in Ōtautahi and now based in Tāmaki with his wife Michelle and their three tamariki, Josh, Tyler, and Māia, Dan serves as the Co-Chair of Indigenous at Microsoft. In this role, he champions Indigenous empowerment and elevates Indigenous voices in the global tech landscape. Additionally, Dan oversees Cloud Solutions as a Partner Lead for Microsoft Australia and New Zealand.

 His academic and professional journeys are deeply influenced by his reconnection with his roots, guided by his whānau, elders, and tribal mentors. Dan will discuss tikanga Māori ki te ao Matihiko – digital leadership integrating Indigenous wisdom into modern technology such as AI to foster community benefits and sustainable, intergenerational change.

Dan also contributes his time to various organisations, including as Deputy Chair of NZ Māori Tourism, Director of Tātaki Auckland Unlimited and Ringa Hora, and Deputy Chair of the Child Cancer Foundation, among other community and voluntary roles nationwide.

Cain and Renay will facilitate this workshop aimed at public sector professionals considering a return to regional Aotearoa. They'll share insights on moving home, addressing realities and misconceptions, and emphasising the importance of regenerating whānau and community relationships. Learn how to leverage your entrepreneurial capabilities to contribute meaningfully to your rohe's development while navigating this significant transition.

Renay Charteris
Ngāti Porou, Te Arawa

Cain Kerehoma
Ngāti Raukawa, Muaupoko, Ngāti Porou

Renay Charteris and Cain Kerehoma are the co-directors of Kiko Innovation, which exists to catalyze innovation in Te Tairāwhiti, deepen indigenous values into business development, and build capability and opportunity in the areas of technology and entrepreneurship. Renay and Cain are founding members of Tāiki e! Impact House, Haututu HackLab and Startup Weekend Tairāwhiti, initiatives that are driving social and environmental innovation in the Tairāwhiti community. After spending time in Wellington - Cain in social policy and Renay in finance - they moved their whānau to Vancouver, Canada to work on a number of innovative indigenous development projects, including a significant health system transformation initiative in British Columbia. Since returning home to Te Tairāwhiti seven years ago, they have been developing a number of innovative kaupapa in the community. Cain and Renay will share their story and experience of returning home - te hokinga mai ki te wā kaenga. 

Our complex environment means we need a toolkit that is agile, practical and deeply rooted in our tuakiritanga to grow. How do we know what types of tools to deploy to maximise growth?

In this workshop, we will look at tools such as outcomes measurement – the many different ways an organisation can contribute to an outcome and how we might support our colleagues to fully comprehend and support outcomes that fall outside the conventional business-driven perspective. Outcomes measurement is a valuable tool for organisations to gauge their effectiveness, identify areas for improvement, and make informed decisions to achieve desired results. Outcomes that matter to Māori need to be captured, if they aren’t – how will we see interventions put in place to drive change and ultimately have services that deliver improvements for our people? That they have the conditions that they need to thrive, and tipu mātoro ki te ao.

Kaapua Smith
Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Apa, Ngāti Awa, Ngāi Tahu

Kaapua Smith is a Partner in KPMG’s Government Consulting team and their Economic and Social Development work and Māori government strategy. She is experienced in developing Outcomes Measurement frameworks and impact reporting, Kaupapa Māori research and practice, community and tangata whenua engagement, communications, and corporate sustainability. 

Prior to joining KPMG, Kaapua was the Head of Sustainability at Contact Energy for 7 years. During this time, she led the Climate Change, Sustainability, Tangata Whenua, Community Relations, Environment, Consenting and Property teams. She’s also a former political advisor to Sir Hon Dr Pita Sharples and Dame Hon Tariana Turia during their time as Minister of Māori Affairs and Minister for Whānau Ora.

A proud graduate of Kōhanga Reo and Kura Kaupapa Māori, Kaapua has held roles at a range of Māori organisations such as Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga, Television, Rautaki Ltd, and Government agencies including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Statistics NZ, and Te Puni Kokiri. Kaapua is also a Trustee of Ngā Wairiki ki Uta Charitable Trust, and Toitū Ngāti Porou.

Timoti Brown
He uri taniwha nō Te Reinga | Ngāti Ruapani | Ngāti Kahungunu ki Te Wairoa | Rongowhakaata

Timoti is a KPMG Director based in Wellington. Timoti has over 20 years’ experience working in the public sector. He has an advanced understanding of systems thinking, systems transformation, and respecting the inclusion of mātauranga Māori in these spaces.

Prior to joining KPMG, Timoti has worked in a range of roles across the Department of Corrections | Ara Poutama Aotearoa, as Managing Director, AIKO Consultants. He has also worked in Cultural Wealth, Whānau Wellbeing, Māori Language and Broadcasting, and Māori Language Monitoring and Evaluation policy teams at Te Puni Kōkiri. The types of work undertaken by Timoti include, but are not limited to, providing Ministerial advice, Waitangi Tribunal claims, Government Māori Language Strategies, Research, and Legislative amendments.

In this workshop you will gain an understanding of the depth and whakapapa of why we are tangata whenua, and the truth that our tūpuna never ceded sovereignty. You will then wānanga on how we live out that truth in your mahi.

Eru Kapa-Kingi
He Aupōuri, he Ngāpuhi, he pānga hoki ki Waikato me te Whānau a Apanui

Eru grew up in Te Tai Tokerau, in the birthplace of both He Whakaputanga and Te Tiriti. Raised to be political and critical of our existence as tangata whenua by passionate parents also on their own journey of reclamation. Eru studied te reo and Pākehā law at Te Herenga Waka, and has worked in a variety of legal roles. He now works as a legal academic, teaching about He Whakaputanga, Te Tiriti, tangata whenua rights, as well as the intersection between Māori and Pākehā jurisprudence. He has also just applied to undergo doctoral study examining deeply the constitutional relationship in Aotearoa.

Furthermore, Eru is a proud trustee for his iwi of Te Aupōuri and Vice-President Tāne of Te Pāti Māori. He is on a mission to empower te whakareanga hou through basic knowledge on tangata whenua rights to build confidence in holding and defending our truth that we never ceded our mana, and that we are still sovereign.

Sustain your wairua as you do the mahi. Māhina will facilitate an interactive workshop which will provide time and inspiration to put in place practical and personalised steps to sustain yourself. Draw from a range of well-being models, including those laid by your own iwi and tipuna through whakatauki, whakatauāki and waiata.

Māhina Melbourne
Ngāi Tuhoe, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Porou.
Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga | Ministry of Education 

While studying Law at Waikato University Māhina decided she wanted to work as a public servant. She thought that it was critical that Māori perspectives shaped the decision making of the Government. Māhina started her career in social sector policy teams and has worked in Pōneke for the last 24 years. More recently, she has worked in a range of leadership roles with a focus on systems improvement, change and capability building. She lives in Porirua with husband Fred, and they have two daughters 26 and 19 who have both left home.

In this workshop we will explore staying true to one's “Māoriness” in the Crown space. What is that? Why is that? Who is that?

Mohi Apou
Ngā Rauru Kītahi, Whanganui Iwi, Te Ātiawa, Taranaki Whānui.

Mohi is a leader in building collaborative cultural inter-relationships that spans 20 years with expertise in the use of facilitating forums for the military, Iwi groups, and local and regional authorities.

Mohi has provided cultural expertise on a parliament level and has navigated complex discussions between Iwi groups and Ministers. He has also worked for the Ministry of Economic Development, Ministry of Education, NZQA, Crown Law Office, Te Puni Kokiri and the Office of Treaty Settlements and has built an extensive network base of Iwi and Government influences across Aotearoa. His years in the Armed services of the Royal NZ Navy and as an Iwi Liaison spokesperson has led to his experience working within cultural, social, and environmental forums.

He has empowered, coached, and mentored many people in Tikanga Māori as a Senior Academic Advisor and Senior Lecturer at Te Wānanga o Raukawa.

This workshop will explore how to draw upon Te Tiriti o Waitangi as a strategic Māori development framework to help guide our mahi in contemporary contexts, and its links to the Matike Mai (Constitutional Transformation) Aotearoa movement. 

Dr Veronica Tawhai
Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Uepohatu

Associate Professor Dr. Veronica Tawhai works as Pūkenga Tiriti for the Office of the Deputy Vice Chancellor Māori at Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa / Massey University and as a Tiriti o Waitangi educator nationally for Te Ata Kura Educators. Previous to her Pūkenga Tiriti role she lectured for 14 years for Te Pūtahi a Toi / School of Māori Studies in Te Tiriti o Waitangi, contemporary Māori politics and policy, and Indigenous critical theories. Between 2012 – 2017 Veronica coordinated the national Matike Mai Aotearoa Rangatahi / Youth for Constitutional Transformation project, led by Moana Jackson and Professor Margaret Mutu. Her PhD research, supported by a Fulbright - Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga scholar award, studied the conscientisation work of senior Indigenous political educators in Aotearoa, Turtle Island (USA and Canada), Hawai’i and Australia for their strategies towards societal transformation in settler colonial contexts. She is currently working on updating her 2011 edited collection ‘Always Speaking’: The Treaty of Waitangi and Public Policy.

He whakapākūhā, he whakamoe i ngā maunga, he taumau, he whakaū i te takapau wharanui. He hononga pēhea nei koia te hanga nei? Ka rite te mana o te tokorua; kei runga rānei tētahi, kei raro rānei tētahi? Ka pēhea kē inā tūtakitaki;

Te iwi ki te karauna
Te tikanga ki te ture Pākehā
Te tika ki te kaupapa here
Te Maihi Māori ki te Maihi Karauna?

 Āe rānei, tau te rangimārie, he takere haea rānei? Anei Te Mātāwai e tū nei me tana aro ki Hawaiki Mokopuna, te ao o ngā mokopuna tū tangata, tū pakari, tū ora, nā, titi ana ko te reo  me te tikanga. Whāia ana kia ūkaipō anō te reo, kia hau te mauri ora, te mana motuhake me te rangatiratanga

Boy meets girl, girl meets girl, boy meets boy, they meet they. Marriage, civil union chosen, marriage betrothed. Navigating the new space as a managed contract or equal commitment by both parties? So what happens when:

Iwi meets the Crown?
Tikanga meets Ture?
Tika meets policy?
When the Maihi Māori meets the Maihi Karauna in Māori language revitalisation?

Like salt water merging with freshwater, or water meeting hot lava? The Te Mātāwai experience and the journey to Hawaiki Mokopuna, the future where our mokopuna can thrive with te reo me ngā tikanga, te reo me ōna tikanga providing the basis for wellness of our people. The pursuit of Kia ūkaipō anō te reo, he reo mauri ora; and ‘Blending te reo Māori within modern life - whānau confidently paving their own way'.

Dr Poia Rewi
Tūhoe, Ngāti Manawa, Te Arawa, Ngāti Whare, Tūwharetoa

Happily married with children and mokos who make life so refreshing. Having taught in the tertiary sector for 30 years, Poia now works for Te Mātāwai, an independent statutory entity legislated to act on behalf of Māori to revitalise te reo Māori alongside the Crown.  A strong focus of Te Mātāwai is to support language activities among whānau, kāinga, hapori and iwi by way contestable direct funding. Emeritus Professor Poia Rewi tākou whakaihuwaka, former Dean of Te Tumu, School of Māori, Pacific & Indigenous Studies, University of Otago. His teaching, research and practice included Indigenous language revitalisation, te reo me ngā tikanga Māori, Māori oratory, Māori performing arts and Māori history. 

Ria Tomoana
Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Pāhauwera, Te Āti Awa ki te Upoko o te Ika

Ria joined Te Mātawai in May 2019. Away from her roles as bossy mum and doting kuia, Ria adds the ‘tarau’ to the ‘smart’ and exudes positivity and sassy. She has a Master of Applied Linguistics from Victoria University of Wellington and extensive experience in Māori language research and revitalisation. She has provided consultancy services and held senior positions with Te Paepae Arahi Trust, Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori, Whitireia and Te Puni Kōkiri.