MIT officially welcomes new Deputy Chief Executive – Māori

Dr Wiremu Manaia (Tainui / Ngāti Awa) was officially welcomed on Friday as MIT’s Deputy Chief Executive – Māori.

While his appointment was announced in August, COVID-related disruptions and the holiday break delayed his pōwhiri until now.

Prior to taking up the role, Dr Manaia was a Senior Lecturer at MIT’s School of Business, a Quality and Research Manager on Te Ara Oranga programme in School of Nursing and School of Health and Counselling.

He is a former Regional Manager at the Ministry of Education, a District Manager at the Auckland District Health Board and a Senior Academic at Unitec, Auckland, Massey and Waikato universities.

MIT communications spoke to Wiremu and started by asking what his reaction was to the appointment?

A. Obviously, I’m excited. The process has been quite long. Applications went in last March. I had a long think about applying and decided late to put my name in. I have had roles like this in the past, I had walked away from management when my older kids left home. Then this opportunity came along five years later and I talked it over with my wife.

Q. What are the most important things to focus on in the first six months?

A. I need to nurture and find out what tools we have got in Te Tari Matauranga Māori (the team at Ngā Kete Wānanga Marae).

Once that’s sorted I’m going to move across the different campuses and renew community networks. I’ve had a long history of being associated with Tainui, that’s my iwi. There’s a fair bit of planning to do with the Executive Leadership Team.

Q. What do you think your strengths are?

A. It’s not new work for me. I’ve managed a team like this before. Back in the 90s I had a team like this in the Ministry of Health. I’ve worked at six different universities. I’ve been an academic for 25 years and I’m a native speaker. I grew up with it so I didn’t go to school to learn it. I can move in the Māori world and the corporate world which I have done in the past.

Q. What are the positives MIT offers?

A. One of the things I like about MIT is it has its own culture. It’s like mine. It’s as relaxed as it needs to be. In this provider, you get such a cross section, all ages, all ethnicities, I’ve never had so many late learners in a classroom and I like it. It is pitched at parts of New Zealand society that need it the most. I’ve lived in South Auckland half my life now and having MIT here is good because it’s a fair reflection of the community.

Q. What has been the importance of education to you?

A. Jeez, I don’t know where to start. I had parents who pushed education because they didn’t have opportunities when they were young. My mum wanted to do medicine, but was told no, no, you do Nursing or Teaching. My Dad once told me he wanted to do law but he never had the opportunity so he became a Prison Officer. It was a sensitive subject. In those days, Māori were only allowed to do trades, women did Nursing or Teaching.

I got on well with my teachers. They were pretty cool to me. At high school, Te Awamutu College, Boy Mangu was a good role model, encouraged me to do leadership things. I was fluent in Māori and he was the Māori language teacher, he was good to me. He gave me a book, I had never heard of, it was called a thesaurus. I asked him what it was. He said, ‘it’s a book that makes us sound more Pakeha.’ I used it a lot and my teachers liked me.

My uncle Waaka Vercoe was the first university graduate in our family. He is my Godfather. He was the first person who started talking about it. He was an accountant. We had a big celebration in Te Teko when he graduated. We didn’t even know what a university was. He just said it was a really nice high school for adults. I thought it sounded pretty good.

Q. How did you find those first years at university?

A. When I went to uni, I was living in the halls. There were not many Māori there. I overindulged in the social life. I went to orientation and thought that was the tīkanga. I called my Mum and said it was a bit lonely. She said, ‘go and see your Uncle Sid.’ Sid (Hirini) Melbourne was the Head of Māori Studies at Waikato. I lived in a caravan at his place, all I had to do was mow the lawns and walk his dog. He took care of me during my undergraduate degree. I was very lucky. A lot of good Māori men helped me there. They were there at pivotal times in my life.

Q. Who were the other important mentors in your educational journey?

A. Mason Durie changed my life. These are very significant Māori men. He still has advice for me to this day. I asked him about this job.

He supervised my PhD. When I got my PhD it opened doors that would not have opened otherwise.

When I got the job of regional manager with the Ministry of Education, I asked them what made them choose me. I was a real ‘shot in the dark.’ I had never worked in the education sector. I was 40. For a regional manager, that’s quite young. I’d always been in health. They told me they wanted someone different. The other thing they said was, ‘you had a PhD. and you’re a native language speaker.’

After my graduation, I asked him (Sir Mason) what I could do to thank him and he said, ‘When I send a Māori to you who needs help, help them like I helped you.’

Q. How do you think about your academic success?

A. A PhD dominates your life for four years. It absorbs you. That’s a great thing because achievements are good. But some of our younger ones think it’s part of their identity and sets you apart, like it makes them stand out from everyone else.

I’m a Māori with a PhD. It comes with a responsibility to help your people. But if you confuse your identity with your achievements, that’s a bad place. You run the risk of becoming a legend in your own mind which makes you useless. It sets you apart from the very people you are meant to help.

I’ve had my PhD for 21 years. I’ve never hung it up. We found it in the wardrobe last year when we were having a clean out. My wife asked me what I wanted to do with it, I said ‘leave it there.’

Dr Wiremu Manaia, supported by his whānau, is officially welcomed to MIT at Deputy Chief Executive – Māori.

Q. What has changed for this generation of tauira?

A. Most of my whānau have gone to university. It’s been good for my kids. I have three older children who are graduates now. I know it’s not entirely because of me. One of my sons is a lawyer. He told me I used to look at you and think if this monkey can get a degree, I know I can get one! I was just glad I could help.

Q. To whom do you owe your success?

A. I have always believed that what you made of your life was completely up to you, that you create your own opportunities and if you don’t take advantage of them then you can only blame yourself.  Well I am in my 50s now and I think wisdom is starting to have an impact because I am not that naïve anymore. I look back now and I realise I created very little of what I received.

I have been very lucky. Important people have helped me at various stages in my life and their impact has been significant: Sir Kim Workman, Dame June Jackson, Dame Naida Glavish, Sir Mason Durie and others. They managed and mentored me at different times and I learnt a lot from them but I suspect they probably don’t realise it.

Q. As you progress in your career does your role change in delivering for Māori?

A. Today, I look around at young Māori coming through and I am amazed at the wealth of potential they are exhibiting and it makes me feel proud. They are the Māori millennials and in order for us to make a significant difference in New Zealand society then we are going to need them. So, what does that mean for people my age?

We need to accept that we are the ‘opportunity creation generation’ and the young Māori I see every day are the critical mass that will achieve the positive Māori developments we need.

As Māori leaders in my generation, our job is to address the impediments, remove the obstacles and create the opportunities and then get out of the way. In my newly found wisdom, I now realise I have been doing it for some time and I will continue to do this as the DCE Māori here at MIT.

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