Mrs Gowland-Douglas has iwi affiliations with Northland tribe Ngati Kahu. Her working life has been in community development. She's worked for local government and charities, and spent the last two years as CEO of the philanthropic WEL Energy Trust in the Waikato.
Her role there was to bring the community and grant-makers together, but she didn't get a chance to see community development at a grassroots level. She's hoping to get closer to that in her new job.
Her initial focus is in building the capacity of the trust - through staff training and resourcing.
She wants to understand the aspirations of the tribe and make them happen - a "bottom up" process, by the people, for the people - without leaving anyone out.
"From the iwi's perspective we're doing this for the whole community because we are guardians of this area and we have a responsibility," she said.
There's a lot happening already.
The Ruapehu Whanau Transformation Plan has been going for a year. Mrs Gowland-Douglas will be looking for partners to fund it.
Funding will also come from Ruapehu Recruitment, which was set up as part of the project and has found summer cadetships for 36 young people. The cadetships are with two big businesses in the area, Ruapehu Alpine Lifts and WPI International, and could lead to jobs. Jobs have also been offered by Maori-owned Aotearoa Construction, which will be repairing the nearby Makatote Viaduct.
A DVD of local stories related to an anti-domestic violence campaign is to be launched this month, with the tribe's iwi ski championships at Turoa ski area coming soon after.
Also, after "a mammoth effort" by former pouarahi Che Wilson and others, the trust has been given the mandate to progress the iwi's treaty claims. Boundary discussions with neighbours come next, and a treaty manager will be sought.
More research is needed, Mrs Gowland-Douglas said, and actual negotiations are a year or two away.
