Our Leaders

Iwi Chairs

Mark Solomon

Kaiwhakahaere of Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu

Mark Solomon is of Ngāi Tahu and Ngāti Kuri descent, and is the elected Kaiwhakahaere of Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, a position he has held since 1998.

Mark has represented Te Rūnanga o Kaikōura since 1995 and has contributed to his community in many capacities, ranging from roles as a trustee of Takahanga Marae, a school board trustee and on the board of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, a position he held from 2001-2007.

Mark currently holds directorships on Te Hāpai Mauri Ltd, Te Pātaka o Tangaroa and Te Pātaka o Rauru. He is also a Summit Member of the Hillary Institute and a member of Te Kāwai Taumata.

Mark believes a true raNgātira is a servant of the people and reflects this in his role in helping establish the Iwi Chairs Forum and his ambition of kotahitanga for Māori.

Tuku Morgan

Chair Te Arataura

Tukoroirangi (Tuku) Morgan is a former New Zealand politician. He was an MP from 1996 to 1999, first as a member of the New Zealand First party, then as an independent, and finally as a member of Mauri Pacific.

Raniera (Sonny) Tau

Chairman of Te Runanga-a-iwi o Ngapuhi

Raniera (Sonny) Tau is the chairman of Te Runanga-a-iwi o Ngapuhi, the iwi authority for Ngapuhi serving 122,000 members. Sonny has held this role since 2000. Under Sonny’s leadership Ngapuhi lead the settle of the fisheries allocation model in 2004.

Sonny runs his own farm and consultancy business, Tau Holdings Limited and is currently a commissioner of Te Ohu Kaimoana, a director of Ngapuhi Asset Holding Company Ltd and the Omapere/Rangihamama farming incorporation at Kaikohe. He is also very involved in all sectors of our national Fisheries negotiation and management.

Sonny is heavily involved in local Marae and Hapu development and tries to attend as many tangihanga in Ngapuhi as possible.

Professor Margaret Mutu

Chair of Te Rūnanga-ā-Iwi o Ngāti Kahu

Margaret is of Ngāti Kahu, Te Rarawa and Ngāti Whātua descent and as well as chairing Ngāti Kahu's mandated iwi authority since 2001, she is chair of both her marae, Karikari in the Far North and Kāpehu in the Northern Wairoa. She is also a trustee on several Māori land trusts and has served on a number of whānau, hapū, community, regional and national Māori bodies.

Since 2001 Margaret has been the Professor of Māori Studies at the University of Auckland. She is also a director of Ngāti Kahu Corporate Ltd and Ngāti Kahu Mortgage Services Ltd. She has three adult children and three grandchildren and heaps of tamariki and mokopuna. Her home is on Karikari beach in the Far North, although she spends a significant amount of time in Auckland at the University of Auckland.

Ngāti Kahu has been very supportive of the kaupapa of the Iwi Chairs Forum since its inception and values the tautoko, information sharing and pursuit of a future that upholds the mana motuhake of all our whānau, hapū and iwi.

Toko Renata

Chair Hauraki Māori Trust Board

Toko is a highly regarded kaumatua and the acknowledged spokesman for Ngāti Maru and the Hauraki Tribes.

Toko went to Manaia School but left at 13 years old to work the family farm where he remained until he went to work on the dams at Whakamaru. He married Ponga-rauhine Brown in1953 and in 1959 he returned to Manaia to take care of his elderly parents. For nearly 30 years he was contracted to the Ministry of Works.

In 1990 he was awarded a Commemoration Medal and in 1998 the NZ Order of Merit for Services to the Community. He returned his medals to the Crown as his personal protest against the Foreshore and Seabed Legislation.

Ngahiwi Tomoana

Chair Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated

Ngahiwi Tomoana is the chairman of Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated (NKII). He has played an important role through the Treaty Tribes Coalition in the discussions over the development of the allocation method, has taken a lead in promoting Māori aquaculture for the wider Māori community and his iwi, and organised the first Māori Fisheries Conference, in 2006, in Napier.

He has worked for the protection and enhancement of eel habitats both locally and nationally. Ngahiwi has served NKII for the last 10 years.

Apirana Mahuika

Chair Ngāti Porou

Apirana serves on many boards and is a Co-Chair of Tairawhiti Development Taskforce (this consists of Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Porou, Te Rūnanga o Turanganui-a-Kiwa, Wairoa District Council, Gisborne District Council); Chair of Iwi Leadership Forum - Climate Change (Ministry of Environment); Chairman of Tairawhiti Museum and Te Roopu Manukura (a committee of Waikato University); Advisor on the Kaunihera Board (Māori Television); A Council Member of Waikato University; Board Member