HE WĀHINE TOA

Leadership lessons from Karen Vercoe

PEPEHA

Ko Matawhāura te maunga

Ko Te Rotoiti-i-kite-aī- e-Īhenga

Ko Te Arawa te waka

Ko Ngāti Pikiao te iwi

Ko Ngāti Hinekura te hapū

Ko Pounamunui te marae

Ko Houmaitawhiti te tupuna

Matawhāura is my mountain

Ko Te Rotoiti-i-kite-aī- e-Īhenga my lake

Te Arawa my canoe

Ngāti Pikiao my tribe

Ngāti Hinekura my sub-tribe

Pounamunui my marae

Houmaitawhiti my eponymous ancestor

Karen is chair of Te Pūmautanga O Te Arawa, the Data Iwi Leaders Group (ILG), and Te Kāhui Raraunga, a charitable trust responsible for implementing the mahi (work) for the Data ILG.

She is a director of Central North Island Iwi Holdings (CNIHL), representing eight iwi owners of the largest contiguous forest in the southern hemisphere, and a trustee of the Ngāti Pikiao Iwi Trust. She has a master’s in management and was awarded the Dame Mira Szászy Māori Alumni Award in 2016. This November, she will receive a New Zealand Order of Merit for services to governance and sport. She is also a recent appointment to the Sport New Zealand board.

WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT ROLE?

I am the chief executive of Te Arawa Lakes Trust, responsible for the oversight and management of Te Arawa iwi settlement assets, including the region’s 14 lakes. The trust (previously Te Arawa Māori Trust Board) has a significant taiao (environmental) focus and has reprioritized its purpose while strengthening its capability. Although I have swum in my lake, Rotoiti, all my life, I have had little background in environmental matters.

My speciality is management and building great organizations. An initial three-month management secondment is now, four years on, a permanent position. We have gone from a turnover of about $100,000 to $5 million per annum; from one staff member — myself — to 30 staff, and we’re about to add on another 30. We are now seen as one of the leading Te Arawa organizations.

WHO AND WHAT WERE THE MOST FORMATIVE INFLUENCES IN YOUR LIFE?

I was fortunate to have great role models in my maternal grandparents, Kawana and Hera Nepia. We were brought up on our marae in Ngāti Pikiao, where my grandfather was the kai kōrero (spokesperson), and my grandmother was the kai karanga (caller), and where my parents (Neal and Wai Vercoe) were always busy working.

I have fond childhood memories of growing up at the marae, thinking it was normal and cool because I was surrounded by cousins, aunts and uncles. My mother was the secretary for the marae for several years, and that also instilled in me from a young age what service for our people was about.

In 1996, I was selected to represent New Zealand in women’s rugby and in touch rugby a few years later. Playing at that high level under the mentorship of people such as the late Donna Morgan-Stone, herself a sporting legend, and our rugby coach Darryl Suasua introduced me to high-performance principles of teamwork, training, work ethic and commitment. It took me five years to break into the Black Ferns; being in the same environment as the best women in the world in their sport rubs off on you.

WHAT DOES THE CALL FOR LEADERSHIP MEAN TO YOU?

I have learnt that it is not about the individual; it’s about what you and the team are trying to achieve. My time as an elite sportswoman allowed me to take those lessons into my own leadership style. You have to have great people around you. You must motivate, inspire and support. Leadership is about getting the best from your team and creating an environment that keeps people passionate and motivated.

As a leader, you don’t have to be the whole package. You just need to be amazing at what you do and allow your people, your team, to do the same. I have had the benefit of watching leaders in different capacities — people such as Janice Kuka from Tauranga Moana, Herewini Parata from Ngāti Porou, Hayden Wano from Taranaki, Rikirangi Gage from Whānau-a-Apānui, Kahurangi (Dame) Naida Glavish, Ngāti Whātua and, of course, my own chairman, Taa (Sir) Toby Curtis from Te Arawa. They demonstrate the ability to be principled while taking on challenges, especially with government and crown agencies, and to be unrelenting in their passion and commitment to their people.

WHAT ARE THE GOALS FOR YOUR PEOPLE?

My dream is to see all our hapū strong with the ability and resources to achieve their own aspirations for their whānau. I think that will happen in the next 50 years because we have a generation of kura kaupapa and wharekura (total immersion school) graduates who can walk in both worlds confidently.

I am part of an emerging group of leaders who are more collaborative, more inclusive, less gender-focused, less patriarchal, who want to dig in and make things work.

I would love us to come together as the Te Arawa confederated tribes to kōrero to collaborate on the big issues. The original Te Arawa Māori Trust Board was established in 1924 to bring our people together for big hui (meetings) and takē (issues). Then our individual iwi can take that outcome back to their hapū.

The recent pandemic and the need to ensure the wellbeing of our people demonstrates the value of our tribal mandate in leading the iwi response.