Ko Tutahanga Otekai Arahi Ngātuere toku koro
Ko Pheobe (Ruhe) toku kuia
Ko Maryann Kerehi Stuart (Ngātuere) toku mama

Growing up on a sheep and beef farm in the Wairarapa, I was inspired by the kōrero and life experiences of my kaumatua.

As a doctor I think it is important to work beyond the clinic walls to impact the spaces required to promote overall wellbeing for Māori, focusing on sectors fundamental for living: kai (food), wai (water), warmth (energy), shelter (housing), as well as digital technology as a requirement for future work.

I have had a really varied career to date. I have worked with Māori and non-Māori, Indigenous and non-Indigenous groups internationally, across public and private health and social entities, within governance, operations, and investment roles. In 2020 through Harvard Kennedy School, I worked with Dineh’ (Navajo Nation), assessing strategy for both government and private enterprise, to promote and sustain self-reliance in Navajo Nation.

I recently graduated from Harvard University with a Masters of Global Health Delivery. My thesis explored Māori health service expectations with the establishment of the Māori Health Authority.

My aim is a future where every Māori child is capable of achieving their hopes and aspirations, with the understanding that free and full participation in economic environments is essential to fully realising a holistic approach wellbeing.

Ko Te Māipi me Rangitūmau ngā maunga
Ko Kaihoata me Ruamāhanga ngā awa
Ko Ngāi Tūmapūhia-a-Rangi Ko Ngāti Hāmua rāua ngā hapū
Ko Jake Carlson tōku ingoa

He uri ahau nō Wairarapa. I descend from lines that have long called this whenua home, and I am honoured to serve as a member of the Iwi Māori Partnership Board. Alongside my whanaunga and fellow board members, I am committed to ensuring that the voices, values, and aspirations of our whānau are heard and upheld across our health and wellbeing systems.
My background is in emergency and health services. I began as a paramedic and have worked in both clinical and senior operational leadership roles across the motu, including in hospital operations and kaupapa Māori services. Today, I serve as the Kaihautū (CEO) of Whaiora, a kaupapa Māori provider delivering holistic support to whānau across Wairarapa.

I bring to this role a leadership approach grounded in manaakitanga, integrity, and tino rangatiratanga. My vision for IMPB is one of partnership, transformation, and accountability — where decisions reflect our mātauranga, our people, and our future.
Kei te tū māia au i raro i te maru o ōku tūpuna, hei kaitautoko mō tō tātou oranga.

Te Tipuna waka e heke nei, ko Kurahaupo
Te maunga e karapoti nei, ko Rangitumau
Te wai e kōripo nei, ko Ruamahanga
Te iwi e takahi nei i te whenua o kui mā, o Koro mā ko Rangitāne raua ko Ngāti Kahungunu
Ko Yvette Rewa Hikitapua-Grace toku ingoa

I have been in the health sector at both a governance and operational level for over 20 years. I understand the experience of the health system and its shortfalls for our whānau.

I want to be part of the solutions that ensure we as tangata whenua o Aotearoa have equitable access and outcomes as a result of engaging with either the New Zealand health system or our own systems of hauora and wellbeing.

I love the adventure of travel overseas, but more importantly I love to come home to my whānau, my tamariki and my mokopuna. They are my ‘why’ for everything I endeavour to do and part of the reason I have taken up the CEO role at Te Hauora Rūnanga o Wairarapa and this important role with Te Poari.

He uri ahau nō Ngāti Raukawa me Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi. Heoi anō rā i whānau mai, i tipu ake, i kuraina, i mahi hoki ki te Wairarapa.

I have a long affiliation with the Wairarapa. Both my parents were born in Whakaoriori as were the majority of my extended whānau. I grew up on sheep and beef farms all around the Wairarapa. I began my working life as a teacher at Hiona Intermediate, Mākoura College and the Wairarapa Community Polytechnic.

The later part of my career was teaching at the University of Waikato before moving to Wellington as a senior public servant in Te Puni Kokiri, Ministry of Education, Education Review Office and was the Chief Executive of te Maangai Paaho. I recently stepped down after 17 years as the Chief Executive of Te Kura – The Correspondence School.

I am currently working as a part time education consultant for Ako Panuku. I also work part time for Te Royal Commission of Inquiry into Covid and am an advisor to the Medical Sciences Secretariat. I have recently been appointed to the Te Puni Kōkiri Audit and Risk Management Committee.

I have had a long career working in the area of Māori wellbeing, education and Te Reo revitalisation and I am keen to bring that experience to the work of Te Karu o Te Ika IMPB

Ko Rangitūmau te maunga
Ko Ruamahanga te awa
Ko Takitimu te waka
Ko Rangitāne me Ngāti Kahungununu ngā iwi
Ko Ngāti Hāmua me Te Hika-a-Pāpauma ngā hapū
Ko Te Ore Ore me Pāpāuma ngā marae
Ko Maia Te Hira tōku ingoa

He kāwai heke iho ia Rangitāne, ia Kahungunu, ia Hāmua me Pāpāuma. He manu pīrere o te Kōhanga Reo, he raukura o te Aho Matua, he iti pioke nō Ranangunu, he au tōna. Maia proudly descends from the rohe of Wairarapa through her Potangaroa and Tamihana whakapapa. She is a Māori legal issues lawyer specialising in constitutional, Tiriti o Waitangi, Māori Land and criminal defence matters. Maia has held previous legal roles in-house for central government, for private enterprises, and Māori NGOs. She is the co-director of Meinga, a kaupapa Māori consultancy, and is passionate about the oranga and hauora of whānau Māori.