Joy Ratima

Joy has 20 years experience in administration, office management and event planning, previously working as Office Manager and EA at Robert Walters in Melbourne. She moved back to Aotearoa late in 2021 to immerse her whānau in culture and enable her tamariki to attend school in Aotearoa as well as being able to spend more time with family.

Joy has 5 children and is currently studying Te Reo part time. 

​

Email - joyaratima@gmail.com

Grant Berghan

Grant is from the Tai Tokerau region with links to Ngāpuhi, Ngātiwai and Te Rarawa iwi.

He has extensive experience working in Māori development and the public health sector. Along with Tania Hodges, of Digital Indigenous.com, he is a co-facilitator of Māori leadership programmes throughout New Zealand.

He was recently the public health lead for Te Aka Whai Ora after spending two years as the Chief Executive Officer of the Public Health Association of New Zealand. Prior to that, Grant spent four years working in regional economic development, firstly with the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), and then with the Provincial Development Unit, (MBIE) administering the Provincial Growth Fund in Northland.

​

Grant has extensive senior management experience. He has experience in policy development and implementation, funding, advocacy, facilitation and evaluation. He is a life member of STIR: Stop Institutional Racism and a previous recipient of the PHANZ Public Health Champion Award.

Leah Waipuka-Bain

Ko Ngāti Kahungunu mē Rangitāne ki Wairarapa ōku iwi, Ngai Tūmapūhia-ā-Rangi te hapū.​

Leah's experience in the education sector spans two decades in both English and Māori immersion contexts specialising in Health and Te Reo. She has led iwi operations in the treaty settlement process. She is a proud wāhine leader of her whānau and hapū continuing the mahi of her tipuna for most of her life at grass roots. Leah is also a policy specialist who advises and integrates Te Ao Māori, Matauranga Māori, Te Tiriti, and Te Reo into policy across both the NGO and public sectors. Her other skills are within Māori Strategic Communications.

Leah is involved in developing policies supporting the aspirations of the Mana Wāhine claims.  Also was involved in supporting leadership at Te Aka Whaiora. Leah was the Acting CE of the Public Health Association, before representing the PHA Māori Caucus on executive board. She is the Director of Kōpū Consulting Ltd, and an executive member of STIR. Leah has completed her tohu Tāhuhu Whakaaokoranga (Masters in Education Kaupapa Māori) at Te Wānanga o Raukawa. She practices Critical Te Tiriti Analysis, and supports Te Tiriti Racal Justice.

Leah supports stopping racism in all its forms, social justice, and decolonisation through both high level and flax roots advocacy. She enjoys a range of leisure pursuits particularly around the sea, mountains, native forests and birds of Aotearoa, and has a passion for local history and whakapapa.

Wiremu Woodard

Wiremu Woodard is an Indigenous therapist, father of four, activist, environmentalist, sometimes contemporary dancer and artist. Wiremu is committed to reducing health disparities for Māori and promoting social justice.

He currently works in community practice at KERERU and in a previous life taught Psychotherapy & Counselling programmes at Auckland University of Technology. Wiremu is a founding member of Waka Oranga - a group of dynamic Indigenous Māori practitioners committed to emancipatory freedom.

Mershen Pillay

Mershen Pillay is an Associate Professor and Programme Leader in Speech and Language Therapy at Massey University, bringing over three decades of global experience in clinical practice, research, and education. His professional work has been profoundly shaped by South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation process, informing his approach to healthcare equity and social justice. With experience spanning South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, and New Zealand, he offers unique insights from South Africa's post-apartheid transformation that contribute valuable perspectives to Aotearoa New Zealand's decolonisation process. As both an audiologist and speech-language therapist, his clinical expertise encompasses neurogenic communication disabilities, with a specialised focus on swallowing disorders (dysphagia), transgender voice, and occupational hearing loss, particularly among marginalised communities.

Mershen is deeply committed to transforming professional tertiary education through decolonisation and indigenisation, connecting South Africa's reconciliation framework with Aotearoa's Tiriti-based foundations. His research methodology emphasises practical applications, working alongside community organisations to improve healthcare outcomes for Indigenous and underserved communities while respecting and incorporating local cultural contexts and knowledge systems.

As a member of the World Health Organization's (WHO) World Rehabilitation Alliance, Mershen takes this community-centred approach to global health policy. His current work on people with (swallowing) disabilities and food sovereignty exemplifies this commitment, demonstrating how local community engagement can inform and enhance international healthcare initiatives.

Júlio César Pereira

Julio Pereira is an Associate Professor of Statistics at the Federal University of São Carlos, Brazil, with nearly two decades dedicated to applying statistical methods across a range of research fields.

Working in multidisciplinary environments has been a consistent part of his career, allowing him to closely engage with professionals from various fields and contribute to a diverse range of projects. This involvement includes advising on data analysis, conducting statistical analyses, reporting findings, delivering presentations, and co-authoring research papers for publication.

His professional journey has included enriching experiences abroad, such as sabbaticals in the United Kingdom and Portugal. During his time at Massey University in Aotearoa New Zealand, he contributed to a research initiative aimed to understand the relationship between food sovereignty and people with disabilities in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Tracy Karanui-Golf

Tracy Karanui-Golf, a wāhine Māori with Te Rarawa and Ngāti Kuri heritage, is a dedicated professional deeply committed to tangata Māori, the field of speech-language therapy, and advancing Te Tiriti alignment across various domains, including health, justice, and higher education settings. In her role as a Speech-Language Therapist, she empowers whānau by helping them understand their communication profiles, actively promoting equity in communication access. Her dedication to promoting equitable communication extends to the legal realm, where she serves as a Court Appointed Communication Assistant, ensuring that communication aligns with Te Tiriti within justice spaces. Tracy's commitment to equity is further exemplified in her role as Kaiākiaki Māori (Māori advisor) at Massey University's Speech-Language Therapy Program, where she advocates for diversity and cultural competence among future therapists. With a strong academic foundation, including a Postgraduate Diploma in Bicultural Supervision, she continues her exploration of Māori Law and Philosophy through her master's program at Te Wānanga o Raukawa. Tracy's commitment to equity and her substantial contributions to culturally responsive speech-language therapy have earned her recognition, including the distinction of receiving the New Zealand Speech-Language Therapy Association's inaugural Cultural Award for Rangatiratanga, solidifying her status as a transformative figure in her field.

Erina Korohina

Ki te taha o tōku matua

Ko Maungakeke te maunga

Ko Orutua te awa

Ko Horouta te waka

Ko Ngāti Porou te Iwi

Ki te taha o tōku whaea

Ko Llantrisant te maunga

Ko Ely, ko Clyde, ko Bann ngā awa

Ko Phillip Laing, ko Pleiades ngā waka

Ko Wīwī, ko Wīra, ko Kotemana, ko Irihi ngā iwi

Ko Erina Korohina tōku ingoa.

​

Erina has been working as a public health practitioner since graduating from a BSc in Human Nutrition in 2006. Nine of those years were spent living and working in Tai Tokerau supporting the workforce development of the Māori nutrition and physical activity kaimahi and working on grassroots community development programmes.

​

In 2018 and again in 2020 she was  awarded the Heart Foundation Māori Cardiovascular Fellowship.

In 2021, she was asked onto a leadership team to design an integrated programme of work to support heart health outcomes for Māori. She is now the principle investigator for this programme titled Te Ara Poutama | Kaupapa Māori heart health research co- funded by Pūtahi Manawa –  Centre for Research Excellence and the Heart Foundation.

​

In her down time she heads down Tairāwhiti to connect with whānau and whenua. She enjoys learning about sustainable living practices and systems such as maramataka so she can support her whānau to redevelop their papakāinga.