Pacific Governance Leader
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This category is to recognise Pacific women in governance.
This award is presented to a woman who is acknowledged as an experienced and reputable governance leader at a regional or national level, championing gender diversity and/or gender equity.
Nominees can represent any field and industry sector.
This award is sponsored by Ministry for Pacific Peoples
Meet the finalists
Erolia Eteuati-Rooney
Erolia is a board trustee - community representative on the WellSouth Primary Health Network Organisation, the PHO for the Southern region.
She is also community board trustee for the Otago Youth Wellness Trust, a charity that works with rangatahi who have high and complex needs in the Otago community.
Erolia is an appointed council member for the Medical Sciences Council and is a director for the Medical Sciences Secretariat, the business support services arm of the regulatory authority.
She is a founding member and current secretary for the Lupe Faalele, a Samoa i Otago, a voluntary group of Samoa professionals working on bridging the Samoan language and FaaSamoa with Samoans in Otago needing to reconnect with their Samoan roots.
Erolia sees herself as a Tautai for the Dunedin Pacific community to have a voice in decision making.
Jemaima Tiatia
Jemaima’s disciplinary and leadership focus is on mental health and wellbeing, suicide prevention, suicide postvention, climate change and youth development. She has been a pioneer nationally, regionally and internationally in these areas.
Acknowledging over two decades of outstanding contributions to the field, particularly the mental health and wellbeing of Pacific peoples, Jemaima was appointed to the Government’s Mental Health and Addiction Inquiry Panel in 2018.
More recently, Jemaima was appointed Ihonuku Te Moana-Nui-o-Kiwa Te Moana-nui-o-Kiwa, Pro Vice-Chancellor Pacific at the University of Auckland, making her the most senior Pacific academic at Aotearoa’s largest university serving on the University Executive Committee.
In her governance roles she adheres to strong Sāmoan values and core concepts, that being – fa’aaloalo (respect), loto alofa (empathy), alofa (love), tautua (service), vā fealoaloa’i (relationships) and fesui‘aiga (reciprocity).
Meleane Burgess
Meleane is an Associate of Governance New Zealand and The Chartered Governance Institute and is a Chartered Member of the Institute of Directors.
Meleane is a chartered accountant and started her governance career on the local school board. She established and was Chair of the Waikato Pacific Business Network to provide support to Pacific business owners and professionals. She was a member of the MSD Pacific Governance Group guiding the strategy and action plan for Pacific peoples.
She is a trustee of Anglican Action. She is the first pacific person to be appointed to the Public Trust Board and as a Council Member of the University of Waikato. She is a future director on the New Zealand Post board.
In 2021 Meleane was a finalist in the Emerging and Pacific Governance Leader awards.
“Governance is a path less travelled by our Pacific Peoples and I believe that as I travel on this journey, I will empower others to follow.”
Pauline-Jean Luyten
Pauline is a legal professional with a decade of governance experience in a traditionally male-dominated sector.
She is Co-Chair of the NZ Rugby Pasifika Advisory Group, trustee of The Community Trust of Mid and South Canterbury Incorporated, Chair of the Governance/Human Resources Committee for South Canterbury Rugby Football Union, Chair of the Tongan Society South Canterbury Incorporated and is a member of the Māori and Pacific Leaders Forum with the South Canterbury DHB.
She is also a board member (Independent) for South Canterbury Rugby Football Union, the first Tongan woman and first Pacific person holding a board position in South Canterbury.
As a community leader, Pauline sees her role as ensuring cultural development is available for all professionals in South Canterbury, and upskilling and providing professional development opportunities are included in the strategic plan for the Tongan Society South Canterbury.