Our people
Meet the members of the Dame Mira Szászy Centre and read about their research interests.
Manutaki – Centre Director
Professor Dr Maree Roche
Professor Dr Maree Roche, Ngāti Raukawa, began as the centre’s Manutaki in June 2023.
Dr Roche has an extensive career in research in areas such as leadership, employee wellbeing and engagement, and is particularly focused on indigenous, specifically Māori leadership and employee wellbeing, where she draws on a Māori/kaupapa perspective.
Through her research, Dr Roche continues to inform international and national audiences of the value of properly understanding and resourcing the leaders and employees in today’s complex and changing business environments. She has also been awarded: Fellowship - Positive Organisational Behaviour Institute (USA) Fellowship - New Zealand Psychological Society and is a chartered member of Human Resource Management Institute of New Zealand Institute (Chartered). In her role as Manutaki, she will carry on the work Dr Wolfgramm in leadership development and combine this with the need to nurture and sustain the Māori workforce.
Te Kaihanga Rangahau - Research Associate
Ngāroimata Reid
Ngāroimata Reid is from Te Rarawa, Ngātiwai, Ngāti Kahungunu and Rangitane - Te Tau Ihu o te Waka a Maui. She was awarded the Dame Mira Szászy Māori Business Leaders Alumni Award for Excellence in Māori Business and Leadership; is a Leadership New Zealand Fellow and holds an international membership with the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID).
Ngāroimata is a former member of the Academic Advisory Council, International Indigenous Women’s Forum (IIWF/FIMI) representing the Te Atatū Branch Māori Women’s Welfare League at Indigenous Women’s Global Leadership School, the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and at Columbia University in New York City.
Ngāroimata’s PhD research is focused on the Leadership Resilience, Identity and Efficacy of Wāhine Māori.
Ngā Ahorangi – Our Professors
Professor Dr Carla Houkamau
Professor Dr Carla Houkamau, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāi Tahu and Pākehā from the Department of Management and International Business was Manutaki for the centre from 2018 - 2021.
Dr Houkamau bought to the centre her focus on intergroup relations, chiefly how group memberships influence attitudes and behaviour. Her publications typically examine how ethnicity helps reproduce socio-economic inequalities but can be leveraged to address them.
Dr Houkamau is also known for the development of the Multidimensional Model of Māori Identity and Cultural Engagement (MMM-ICE) and this research has been recognised nationally and internationally for advancing ethnic identity research using psychometric measures and large samples.
She is currently leading a nationwide longitudinal quantitative study on Māori financial attitudes, Te Rangahau o Te Tuakiri Māori me Ngā Waiaro ā-Pūtea | The Māori Identity and Financial Attitudes Study (MIFAS).
Dr Houkamau completed her term as Manutaki to take up the Deputy Dean’s role for the University of Auckland Business School in 2021.
Read more about Professor Dr Carla Houkamau and her research
Associate Professor Dr Rachel Maunganui Wolfgramm
Associate Professor Dr Rachel Maunganui Wolfgramm, Te Aupōuri, Ngai Takoto and Whakatōhea, Vava’u Tonga, Europe, and the United Kingdom was the Manutaki for the Centre from 2021 – 2023.
As Manutaki, Dr Wolfgramm initiated and led the Matakerepō programme for Māori and Pacific postgraduates, MBA, and doctoral students, initiated and led the Te Waka Taua Kahui Rangatira PhD and postgraduate cohort, served on the Aotearoa Māori Business Leaders Awards steering group and co-chaired the University of Auckland Ngā Ara Whetū Centre for Climate, Biodiversity and Society, a flagship cross-faculty research centre to respond to the pressing environmental and humanitarian challenges of our time.
Dr Wolfgramm left her role as Manutaki in 2023, to take up the role of Lead Researcher for the Mana Wāhine Kaupapa Inquiry, WAI 2700, for the Waitangi Tribunal, Ministry of Justice.
Read more about Associate Professor Dr Rachel Wolfgramm and her research
Ngā Kairangahau Matua – Our Senior Researchers
Dr Nimbus Staniland
Dr Nimbus Staniland, Ngāti Awa, Ngāi Tūhoe, is a Senior Lecturer in Management at the University of Auckland Business School with over 10 years’ experience in tertiary education. Her research is focused on the question of how Māori and other Indigenous research methodologies can be effectively applied to the workplace experience and the organisation of work, what practices and processes enable or inhibit meaningful experiences of employment and careers, and how might we use theoretical frameworks that are particular to this country to develop new theories and approaches to practice in business.
Dr Kiri Dell
Dr Kiri Dell is a Senior Lecturer in the Business School. She is a Ngāti Porou woman living in her tribal territory of Ruatōria. Her main passion is working with whānau and activating their aspirations for whenua Māori. She works across a number of disciplines and is a chair of the Indigenous Caucus of the Academy of Management. She has a lively and large whānau, which enables her to play the many roles of mum, aunty, daughter, sister, cousin, and niece.
Dr Amber Nicholson
Dr Amber Nicholson is an uri o Ngāruahine, Taranaki and a māmā of two. She has been affiliated with the centre since 2009 in both professional and academic capacities. Amber has been involved in various research projects in the areas of Treaty of Waitangi claims, Māori health disparities, Māori governance, Māori history, child poverty, and Economies of Mana. She completed her PhD in 2021, exploring ways to enhance Māori wellbeing through recognising and honouring the ancestral landscapes in which business operates. Amber has research interests in Māori concepts of wellbeing, economies of mana and kaitiakitanga.
Dr Jamie Newth
Dr Jamie Newth, Ngāpuhi is a senior lecturer in Management and International Business whose interests are in social enterprise, impact investing, sustainable business, social innovation, and social entrepreneurship.
Ngā Tohunga PhD – Our PhD scholars
Narissa Lewis
Narissa is of Waikato, Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngāti Porou descent and is currently the inaugural Organisational Development Practice Lead for Academic Staff at Waipapa Taumata Rau | University of Auckland.
Narissa is an experienced change agent who has held academic and operational roles across a range of tertiary institutions. Her background is in student-facing roles that aim to support student transitions in, through and out of tertiary education.
More recently, Narissa has held staff-facing roles in the areas of curriculum design and development, learning design, and researcher development. It is through her latter roles that she developed an interest in the humanistic aspects of change, organisational behaviour, and organisational culture.
Narissa’s PhD research focuses on these aspects within the higher education context and in particular, ‘Organisational culture and the impact on Māori staff’.
Abigail McClutchie
Abigail McClutchie is Te Rarawa and Ngāti Porou descent and lives in the CBD Tāmaki Makaurau. She is one of the Kaiārahi, in the Lead Team of Te Tumu Herenga/Libraries and Learning Services at Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland.
Abigail is also studying a PhD at the University of Auckland Business School, enquiring into ‘mahi rangatira’ and 'utu' in the entrepreneurial context, past and present. Her work and studies progress and empower tauira me kaimahi Māori to embed Te Tiriti o Waitangi in all we do, and to realise tino rangatiratanga (Māori self-determination, independence, sovereignty, mana motuhake)”.
Manuhiri Huatahi
Manuhiri Huatahi is a Kaiārahi for Te Tumu Herenga, Libraries and Learning Services at Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland. She is also a PhD scholar in Management and International Business at the University of Auckland Business School and is an active member of the Ngā Taniwha Māori Alumni Network and Te Rōpū Whakahau.
Manuhiri’s PhD research focuses on The Evolution of Libraries in Meeting the Needs of Māori.
Ngā Kaitohutohu Matua - Our Senior Advisers
Dr Robert Pouwhare
Hone Thorpe
Hone Arohaina Te Topa Thorpe, Te Āti Awa was appointed as the Auckland Business School Kaiārahi on 1 August 2022. He works closely with the Executive Team and Business School to support the Te Taumata Teitei aspirations at Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland.