Bay of Plenty, New Zealand
My current role as Te Arawa Partnership Advisor is to connect the many strands of council with iwi and hapū mai i Maketu ki Tongariro and help to foster trusted relationships. Working alongside our Whare Taonga team (Rotorua Museum) to connect with iwi, hapū and whānau whose taonga we are privileged to care for on their behalf, is incredibly rewarding. I’m also working with one of our infrastructure units, to build relationships with hapū and iwi that have mana over the puna (water sources) that provides pure clean drinking water to the community of Rotorua. My role sits within council’s bi-cultural unit (Te Amorangi), and we provide cultural capability for council staff. This includes supporting wānanga/noho marae for staff, translation service, delivering waiata classes and pōhiri. Previous to my current role, I have 20+ years experience in the ICT and Information Systems sector within council and helped to establish a PMO and Risk office, worked in many roles including Corporate Risk Lead, Capital Works Programme Manager, IS Solutions Manager, Senior Business Analyst, Data and my first role in 1998 was Database Administrator. Skilled in Project Management, Business Process, Service Delivery, Budgeting, Business Planning, Reporting, Risk Management and Analytical Skills. Strong program and project management professional with a Bachelor in Computing Systems focused in Information Systems, from Waiariki Institute of Technology/Unitec. Although my base skillset is in the ICT area, my passion and hearts desire is to work alongside my iwi, hapū and whānau and forge trusted relationships with council.