Former painter takes reins

Bentham Ohia used to be a painter at Te Wananga o Aotearoa. Now he's the chief executive officer.
The Mana Whakahaere (wananga council) appointed the 35-year-old Tauranga father of two to the position in May after months of turmoil which ended in the resignation of its founder and chief executive Rongo Wetere last year.
Since then Te Wananga o Aotearoa has restructured, losing 300 jobs nationally. Student numbers have dropped from 59,000 to 45,000.
This week Mr Ohia was in Rotorua where the Te Arawa campus hosted a national Te Wananga o Aotearoa hui and kapa haka competition. He acknowledged the past few years hadn't been that easy on staff and students.
The focus of this week's hui was moving ahead on a positive note.
"The last 18 months have challenged the wananga's ability to survive but survive it has. People felt helpless but now there is this steadfast absolute commitment to the philosophy and values of the organisation," he said.
That commitment includes Mr Ohia dropping plans to move his wife Kate and children Tuahoi, 10, and Tahuaroa, 7, to Michigan, USA to finish his doctorate, to take up his new role.
Mr Ohia began his career with wananga in 1994 as a painter at the Hamilton campus. Since then his roles have included campus director, satellite provider manager, assistant chief executive and director of Te Kura Matauranga Maori.
He has a BA in Maori and Education, an MBA and Diploma in Maori Immersion Education and has also tutored Maori language and custom.
His belief is that education is the key to improving peoples' lives.
The wananga would stay committed to it's values as it continued its work with people of all ethnic backgrounds, Mr Ohia said.
"We will continue to remain committed to low or nil fees to allow access to education for all people. We will always be an inclusive organisation of all whanau, hapu, iwi, ethnic and cultural people and be exclusive to none," he said.
The future of the organisation looks prosperous.
"I believe we have made quantum steps forward and will continue to do so. Wananga does things differently with an holistic approach to education and the key is our commitment to our students. People can study at home, in the day time, at night or on the weekends. It's about making education accessible to all people. We will succeed in our task of re-building the strength of the wananga and meeting the needs of so many who wish to study at this unique organisation," he said.