Our Founding Director: Associate Professor Dr Mānuka Hēnare
The late Associate Professor Dr Mānuka Hēnare, Ngāti Hauā, Te Aupōuri, Te Rarawa, Ngāti Kahu, was the centre’s Founding Director from 1998–2018.
Read about Associate Professor Dr Mānuka Hēnare
Dr Hēnare’s father, Harry Arnold, was a Scotsman; his mother, Ellen Henry, came from the Puku/Hēnare whānau from Whangapē in the far north. After leaving Sacred Heart College in Ponsonby (now St Pauls College), Dr Hēnare became heavily involved in justice, youth, and Māori matters. His influence was so wide that Mānuka was part of the delegation that travelled to Rome to meet with Pope St John Paul II.
Dr Hēnare referred to academia as his 'third career'; his role as a tertiary teacher in the field of Māori and Indigenous business enterprise, and economic development did not begin until mid‐life.
In 1996, he was the first Academic Director in Māori Business Development to be appointed to the University of Auckland Business School. He became the main teaching contributor to the Postgraduate Diploma in Business (Māori Development), known as the Te Tohu Huanga Māori Business Programme where he saw the opportunity to foster teaching and research on the history of the Māori economy. He also led the organisation of the Aotearoa Māori Business Leaders Awards.
Dr Hēnare founded the Dame Mira Szászy Māori and Pacific Research Centre in Business and Economics in 1998. He received many accolades and awards but in 2018 he was awarded the National Award for Sustained Excellence in Tertiary Teaching - Kaupapa Māori Category.
He believed his earlier experiences, including as CEO of two national non‐government organisations - Caritas Aotearoa/New Zealand and Community Volunteers, helped shape his work as a senior Māori academic, examining how the philosophies, religions, cultures, and worldviews of Indigenous peoples inform theories and practices in innovation, management, organisational culture, economics, and globalisation.
He also attributed his academic direction to the late Tā Sir Hemi Hēnare who encouraged him to do his PhD research on ‘He Whakaputanga’ and record the scholarly side of oral traditions.
Okioki i runga i te rangimarie, moe mai e te Rangatira moe mai rā.
Mānuka Hēnare — He Tohu interview
This significant work has been published primarily as a peer-reviewed e-book by RAL-e, a University of Auckland academic publisher.
Download the ebook for free
Mānuka Hēnare Book Launch
The Dame Mira Szászy Research Centre: Mānuka Hēnare Book Launch, 15 March 2022