Tui Te Hau
Board Member
Rongomaiwahine, Ngāti Tuwharetoa, Te Arawa
Tui is the founder of Bird Island, a boutique consultancy focused on innovation for global good.
She has designed national programmes in the innovation and entrepreneurial space. This included the Lightning Lab, the blueprint for business acceleration in New Zealand and Mahuki, the world’s first accelerator for the culture and heritage sector.
Formerly, the lead of the Māori enterprise team for New Zealand’s international trade agency she supported the export aspirations of major indigenous entities and provided in-market support to NZ exporters as Trade Commissioner Melbourne. She has extensive experience in the culture and heritage sector supporting efforts to tell our nation’s rich stories and is an international speaker on innovation in the culture and heritage sector.
In her most recent role with the National Library, she led a team that developed educational experiences around our nation’s founding documents; He Whakaputanga, the Declaration of Independence, ti Tiriti o Waitangi and the Women’s Suffrage Petition. This included the journey to pay equity e-learning module, the ‘are we there yet’ speaker series and other resources for student and adult learners.
Tui currently works with entities focused on impact investing, STEM education, student entrepreneurship, a global knowledge exchange programme and supporting the next generation of Maori and Pacific creatives.
Her current directorships include the Mary Potter Hospice in Wellington and the Dev Academy.
Tui experienced period poverty and endured painful periods and undiagnosed fibroids. As such, she feels privileged to support the health and vitality of people living with endometriosis.