Tohunga WIKUKI KINGI QSM

Tainui / Ngai Tai, Ngati Mahuta, Te Whānau a Apanui, Ngati Whatua, 

Raukawa, Ngai Tahu / Kati Mamoe, Hawaiian / French

PG Dip Business (UoA), Executive Director / Manager

Tribal Leader/Tohunga Whakairo/Master Carver

E ngaa mana, e ngaa waka, e ngaa reo, e ngaa karangatanga maha

Teenaa koutou, teenaa koutou, teenaa koutou katoa

As a descendent of many tribes of Aotearoa, he has worked beside his whānau, hapū and iwi both professionally and voluntarily for many decades for the advancement of their aspirations. As a fourth generation Tohunga Whakairo he also has the culture-specific tribal knowledge and experience to advance the cultural wellbeing of his tribes for many generations to come.

He spent many of his early and formative years learning important skills at a number of marae including Tūrangawaewae, Kirikiriroa, Tōrere, and Te Puea. As a young apprentice on the waka-building project Tahere Tikitiki, he served as both carver and kaiwaka. His appreciation for planning, project management, and development, and organisational skills was demonstrated to him at a young age through observation and participation in the numerous building developments, hui, wānanga, tangi, and events held at the marae that his whānau and he had links to. It was there that he could see kotahitanga and mahitahi in action, and learned the importance of friendship, loyalty and commitment to each other in order to achieve our collective dreams.

His parents and kaumātua largely shaped his core values of aroha and whakapono and they always encouraged the values of whakaiti and rangimarie, reminding him that while our work was for whānau, hapū and iwi, all peoples of ngā hau e whā would also benefit. Living and working within the strongly collectivist communities of Te Ao Maori, he has developed many transferable attributes with strong team-building and team-relationship skills and abilities. With a strong cultural foundation, he has continued to demonstrate visionary leadership across multiple spheres.

As a Tohunga Whakairo with over thirty year’s experience, he has created many taonga, including the intricately carved masterpiece Pou Kapūa, the tallest Māori/Pacific carving in the world. He is the son of Te Uranga O Te Rā Kingi, Tohunga Whakairo, and he is an elite carver and Project Manager of both Pou Kapua Creations and Te Ranga Carving School who with Tohunga Inia Te Wiata, are the traditional carvers of the Ariki of Kiingitanga, recently Te Ariki Nui Te Ata i Rangi Kaahu, and currently Kiingi Tuheitia. He has demonstrated this commitment having carved with the team many marae around Waikato and Puukawa in Tuwharetoa, and hundreds of taonga and gifts for the Kiingitanga to pass on as living symbols of our tribal identity.

While he has whakapapa links to many of the tribes across Aotearoa, including Ngai Tai, Ngati Mahuta, Ngati Paoa, Ngati Tamaoho, Ngati Whatua (North), Tuwharetoa (Central), Te Whanau Apanui and Whakatohea (East Coast), Kawhia Harbour and Raukawa (West Coast) and Ngai Tahu and Kati Mamoe (South Island) he also has many global connections. He is the grandson of New Zealand’s first opera singer Inia Te Wiata, who was the creator of the Pou Ihi that stands in New Zealand House, London, United Kingdom, and looks forward to building on his whānau and tribal connections to develop a tribal marae in Europe for the many thousands of Maori who reside there, seeing it also as an opportunity for opening further economic opportunities and markets for the tribes of Aotearoa.

Continuous learning across multiple cultures is important to him, with academic studies at Waikato University and more recently he has completed a Post Graduate Diploma in Business at the University of Auckland School Of Business. His studies have included organisational studies, governance, management, strategic business development, international business, financial accounting, legal studies, entrepreneurship, and Maori history. He has guest lectured at a number of universities and tertiary institutions including University of Auckland, AUT, New Mexico University, and the Institute of American Indian Arts. As a faculty member of the Native Science Academy (based in Berkeley San Francisco) he is currently teaching within learning lodges with Programme Directors of the US Science Foundation in the area of ethical space and working with Indigenous peoples across the US and around the world. Academic learning is important to him and he will continue with his MBA at Auckland University on a part-time basis. He is also continuing studies and wānanga with his kaumātua council and tohunga, learning tribal whakapapa / genealogies, histories, and kaitiakitanga / environmental understandings within Te Ao Maori.

Within his work he incorporates the principles of: Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Treaty of Waitangi; strategic, collaborative and participative leadership; respect and trust; cooperation and consistency; fair and active representation; accountability; and transparency and clarity. He demonstrates ethical, intellectual social, cultural, economic, creative, environment and symbolic leadership, always conscious of and responsive to Maori and wider communities needs. He further understands the need to generate and create a learning environment both within our own organisations, including within the teams he would create and also within the stakeholder relationships he would continue to develop and maintain.

He has had considerable work experience across many sectors including the areas of defence, justice, social, education, health, economic and community development. I spent 22 years with the New Zealand Defence Force – Royal Armed Corps, 6^th Hauraki Battalion as a Troop Sergeant, responsible for soldier discipline and training. I also spent 14 years (concurrently) with the Department of Corrections as a Senior Prison Officer/Staff Trainer, and Regional and National Emergency Response Planner. I spent over 15 years strategically developing Kirikiriroa Marae (Kiingitanga - Nga Hau e Wha) with several Pou (including Oranga) resulting in a multi-million dollar establishment and operation aimed at enhancing the health, wealth and wellbeing of our people. I spent three years as a Project Manager for Te Kohao Health in Hamilton and continue to work on several new initiatives. I have lead NZQA assessment and moderation of education training programmes including evaluation and instructor training. 

At a personal level, I am a family man, married with children, love playing/coaching basketball,  playing and coaching rugby (seniors) ‘when I am fit enough’, and diverse cultural activities (from kapahaka at the local marae, to powwow in Albuquerque). I am friendly, outgoing and easy to get along with, a good cook who can cater for two people or two hundred with the utmost ease.

Passionate and motivated, I constantly seek creative and leadership challenges and am always actively involved in many cultural pursuits, including marae development (Waikato-Tainui, Wairakei, Sydney, Perth, Brisbane, San Francisco, London) and waka building (Waikato-Tainui, San Francisco) and other whakairo and arts projects both at home and abroad (Santa Fe, San Francisco, Washington, Brazil-Amazon).

Kia ora