Breakout Session Speakers

Margaret is an experimental plant physiologist and the Dean of Te Aka Mātuatua - School of Science.  Her research interests focus on plant-environment interactions and particularly climate change impacts on our forests and crop plants.  She holds a PhD from the Australian National University as well as BSc and MSc degrees from the University of Waikato.

Tēnā koutou katoa 

Ko Kōtirana te whakapaparanga mai engari 

Ko Ahuriri te whenua tupu 

Ko Ahuriri te kāinga 

Kei Te Awahou au e noho ana 

Ko Steve Carey Tōku Ingoa 

Tēnā tatou katoa 

A compelling sense of commitment to the community, to inspire, to acknowledge, to enable has driven the Impact Collective to support the removal of organisational and territorial boundaries to ensure positive impact for change is made possible. By bringing his extensive experience in community engagement, authentic co-design principles has enabled the Impact Collective to deliver the presentation of data and people insights in a way that is mana enhancing for the people throughout the rohe.  

Having worked in both public and private sector, Steve understands the importance to enabling those with lived experience and those who reside in the community to have a voice and be supported to remove the power imbalance in decision making. Only then can we enable communities to thrive.   

The team has been involved in the Cambridge Wastewater Treatment Plan project for over 10 years in different roles which has included:

·         Representing mana whenua and the dynamics of developing a sound relationship between mana whenua and council, where mātauranga was in the spectrum of engagement, and how mana whenua can view the SDG’s through an Ao Māori lens. 

·         Assessing the project’s contribution to achieving Te Ture Whaimana o te Awa o Waikato (the Vision and Strategy for the Waikato River) and complying with Iwi Environmental Management Plans.

·         Facilitating mana whenua involvement, and advising Waipā District Council to ensure best practice consultation and engagement processes, and that project collaboration and integrity is maintained.  Ensuring all matters important to mana whenua are clearly understood and implemented in the project, and that mana whenua are involved in the project’s decision making processes. 

·         Providing required technical advice to the project.

Kena Duignan works as the Community Innovation Lead at Wesley Community Action. This role provides tautoko to a whole team of people who are supporting communities to spark creative responses to their own issues and opportunities. 

She is part of the Te Hiko team who are trying to learn more about how to build local economic systems that actually work for people and planet. 

Kena lives in Pōneke with her partner and two tamariki.

Ko Arna Rose Hiwinui Solomon-Banks ahau.

He uri ahau no Tainui Waka no Mitimiti i Ngapuhi, no Tikitiki I Ngati Porou hoki.

Ko Turangawaewae toku Marae.

Ko Taupiri toku maunga.

Ko Waikato toku awa.

I tipu ake ana au I Ngarauwahia. Waikato taniwharau he piko he taniwha he piko he taniwha.

I enei ra, e noho ana toku whaanau toku hoa Rangatira i raro i te mahau o Karioi te maunga, Whaingaroa te moana

Ngunguru te ao, ngunguru te po

Paimarire.

Arna has been in the Education sector for nearly thirty years now, from a beginning teacher/ Kaiako Maori through to a Deputy Principal and onto Education Evaluation with the Education Review Office in the National Maori Team Te Uepu-a-Motu.  

A yearning to return home and be Mama and whaanau support she returned to her off the grid papakainga in Whaingaroa.

This move opened a new life chapter and lead Arna to her current kaupapa mahi role at Waikato Regional Council as the Kaihaapai Hotaka Matauranga – A beautiful title for Advancing Matauranga Maori supporting our kura kaupapa maori haapori/ Marae and Rangatahi pathways as kaitiaki of their Taiao.

Saskia is a Radical Collaborator and an Optimistic Radical, a devoted sustainability advocate intent on making a difference. 

Saskia  has 25+ years of experience across international and senior executive roles and most recently she was in charge of the postgraduate course Leading Change for Good and the Micro-Credential Leading Beyond Sustainability at the Mind Lab.

Saskia is Director of Impact at Proxima, a boutique impact and sustainability consultancy. At Proxima, we build meaningful outcomes across different challenges stretching the whole spectrum of the SDGs. We focus on collaborative approaches that build capability toward co-creating a thriving future for all. Our underpinning values, which we describe as the Proxima Way are to be kind, bold, and curious which we will bring to light in our workshop too!

You can read more about us here https://proxima.global/

Tanya White (Ngāti Hineāmaru, Ngāti Whātua, Ngāti Maniapoto) is a kairaranga (weaver). As a practitioner for many years her focus has been on the integration of health and wellbeing between people and the land. 

Tanya White’s current role is at Te Whare Wānanga o Wairaka (Unitec Institute of Technology, Te Puukenga) as Kaitiaki Taiao/ Kaihautū.

Though not a farmer, Wendy Zhou is responsible for the harvesting and distribution of over 300,000 kg worth of produce. As a Senior Insights Specialist and data-savvy entrepreneur, she is passionate about listening to the stories that data tells. Following her discovery that 40% of fresh fruit and vegetables never leave farms due to their appearance, 

Wendy founded Perfectly Imperfect, a social enterprise set on making perfect out of an imperfect food system. Today, Wendy and her team ensures this nutritious food is plated via subscription service, food bank donations as well as Auckland’s first pay-it-forward community shop.