Te Maori: GM right fit for dynamic era

Te Pumautanga o Te Arawa chairman Alan Skipwith and new manager Taria Tahana bring plenty of business experience to the role of leading the iwi into the future. Photo/Ben Fraser

Taria Tahana (Ngati Pikiao, Ngati Makino and Tapuika) has been appointed general manager of Te Pumautanga o Te Arawa.

Te Pumautanga o Te Arawa chairman Alan Skipwith said he was privileged to be able to appoint from within the affiliate iwi and hapu member ranks a general manager with the wealth of experience Ms Tahana brings to the role.

"Taria brings impressive international and national business and management experience, as well as strong cultural, social and educational background to the position of general manager," he said.

Mr Skipwith said Ms Tahana's wide range of skills and experience would be invaluable in supporting the aspirations of affiliate iwi and hapu members as the Trust entered the next phase of its post-settlement development.

The appointment of Ms Tahana followed a robust employment process run over the past six months.

Mr Skipwith said the three-member Te Pumautanga employment panel were impressed by the quality and number of applicants for the position. "We were honoured to have such a high level of candidates apply."

However, he said, the panel were ultimately convinced by the excellent work carried out by Ms Tahana in her role as interim general manager and the outcomes she had achieved working with iwi, including her work leading Te Arawa Tangata, and Te Arawa Whanau Ora.

Ms Tahana said she was humbled and honoured to be appointed to the role.

"The opportunity allows me to continue my passion to work for and to drive a process that lifts the opportunity of our Te Arawa people," she said.

Ms Tahana returned to Rotorua in 2008 after more than 20 years working in management and leadership roles in New Zealand, North America and Canada.

"My husband, Tim, and I returned home with our two sons, Tiki, 10, and Tanu, 7, because we wanted to ensure they grew up enriched by their Te Arawa and Tuhoetanga, competent in te reo and knowledgeable about our whenua and whakapapa," she said.

"It was also to allow me to be able to support our Te Arawa iwi and hapu as we enter the dynamic post-settlement era of our development."

She has experience as a business executive for corporations such as Fletcher Challenge and Ernst & Young. More recently Ms Tahana has led Maori Development initiatives such as: Te Arawa Tangata, Te Arawa Whanau Ora, Bay of Connections Maori Economic Development Strategy and Ka Awatea: Murupara Education Planning.

Ms Tahana is fluent in te reo Maori and has a Bachelor of Management (Honours) from Waikato University, and is a former student of St Joseph's Maori Girls' College and Rotorua Lakes High School.

She said there was much to do in driving a process that aimed to lift the opportunities of the many thousands of affiliate iwi and hapu members, and she will rise to the challenge.