Kaihautū - MWT Chairperson

Nick graduated from the University of Waikato with a Bachelor of Social Sciences in 1997. His passions include voyaging, navigation and mau rākau. He is well known in these communities and is a valued practitioner of these arts. Nick has primarily been taught by senior canoe experts in Hawai’i, in particular from the Makali’i canoe, the late, Captain Clay Bertleman, and navigators Shorty Bertleman and Chadd Paishon. He has also been extremely fortunate to learn under the great Pius Mau Piailug of Satawal, Micronesia. Nick has undertaken significant voyages in the Pacific, including voyages on: Makali’i, Hōkūle’a, Alingano Maisu, Iosepa, Te Matau a-Māui and Okeanos. He has been a watch captain and student navigator on many of these voyaging canoes. He served as crew and supported the 4-year Mālama Honua Worldwide Voyage around the world with the Polynesian Voyaging Society from Hawai’i. In May this year, he joined the crew on Okeanos, a waka motu, to sail from Aotearoa to Tahiti to join Hōkūle’a on its return home to Oahu, Hawai’i after circumnavigating the world.

Pou tiaki pūtea – MWT Treasurer

Dr Tuaupiki is an Associate Professor at Te Pua Wānanga ki te Ao - Faculty of Māori and Indigenous Studies at the University of Waikato. Haki's research has a strong focus on Māori voyaging knowledge and traditional navigation in te reo Māori which sees him drawing on ancestral knowledge in areas such as astronomy, science and maritime studies. He is a practitioner and dedicated advocate for the preservation and regeneration of te reo Māori. He is a current Te Mātāwai Board member, an independent statutory entity, working in partnership with the New Zealand Government to lead Māori language revitalisation for iwi Māori across Aotearoa. He is an author and translator of te reo Māori/English. Haki is a past Fullbright Scholar, Marsden Fund Fast-Start Grant awardee and Vision Mātauranga grant recipient.

Ringa tōhau nui – MWT Administrator

Donna is a consultant psychiatrist with particular interest in Māori, Aboriginal and Indigenous wairuatanga and mental health and it’s relationship to identity and wellbeing; our origins, whakapapa, waka haurua and waka ama. When we know who we are and where we come from, this sets the human condition up for better wellbeing. It enables one to reach outside of Self to our interconnectedness and interrelatedness with the world we inhabit both seen and unseen. The ability to be in awe of the elements, of the wind, of sky, of stars, of land and of sea brings us closer to what it is to be an embodied soul, here on Papatūānuku, Tangaroa and within Ranginui.

Pou hāpai – MWT Trustee

Frank has a passion and desire to see the art of Māori and Polynesian sailing flourish once again across the Pacific. For the last 25 years, Frank has dedicated much of his time to relearning and revitalizing the traditional voyaging and sailing in Aotearoa and Hawaii. He has served as captain and crew on numerous voyages around New Zealand and across the Pacific, including the Tuia 250 Commemorations of the arrival of Māori in 2019. He was featured as the skipper in Māori Television’s Waka Warriors, a 10-episode series involving three youth who joined the crew of Haunui Waka as they circumnavigated the North Island. As captain of ‘Te Matau a Maui’, he and the crew completed an 18 Month from across the Pacific in 2012, sailing as far north as San Francisco. Frank maintains strong relationships with voyaging societies across the Pacific, including the Polynesian Voyaging Society, Na Kalai Wa’a Moku o Hawaii, and other Ohana Wa’a.

Pou hāpai - MWT Trustee

Jason established Tu Pono Legal in 2014 following six years of partnership at Rangitauira & Co and Aurere Law. He is a litigator with experience in most Courts from the District Court to the Supreme Court, the Māori Land and Appellate Courts, the Waitangi Tribunal, Environment Court and the Employment Relations Authority.

In addition to litigation, Jason has experience in a range of corporate, commercial, environmental and treaty negotiations where he takes a solutions-based and practical approach to achieve outcomes.