Master of Ceremonies and Keynote Speakers
Ngahihi o te ra Bidois (MC)
Ngahihi o te ra Bidois is a recognised iwi leader, professional speaker and has received various awards including NSA Master of Ceremonies of the Year and NSA New Zealand Speaker of the Year.
Ngahihi is also a professional director and is currently serving on seven boards. He believes leadership starts with the person in the mirror and refers to ancient wisdom from Māori culture as modern solutions.
Ngahihi holds a Business Marketing degree, advanced Directors Certificate and Master’s degree in Education with honours.
“Ko Te Arawa te waka, Ko Ngāti Rangiwewehi me Ngāti Tahu - Ngāti Whaoa ngā iwi. Ko Tommy Bidois tōku Pāpā, Ko Doreen Bidois nee Tanirau tōku Māmā.
Ko te manu e kai ana i te miro, nōna te ngahere. Ko te manu e kai ana i te mātauranga, nōna te ao katoa.
I am looking forward to being with you all at your ACC conference and contributing to the mātauranga of our hui to help us all become better citizens o te ao katoa. Kia kaha kia māia.”
Dr Amohia Boulton
Dr Amohia Boulton (Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāi te Rangi, Ngāti Pukenga, Ngāti Mutunga, Te Āti Awa o te Waka a Māui), is the Director of Whakauae Research Services – the only iwi-owned health research centre in Whanganui, New Zealand.
A health services researcher of some 20 years, Dr Boulton’s research focuses on the relationship between, and contribution of, government policy to improving wellbeing outcomes for Māori. Her research interests include all aspects of health and wellbeing service delivery for Māori, health equity and care ethics. She currently leads a range of HRC-funded projects including two major programmes: Kia Puāwai ake ngā uri whakatupu: Flourishing future generations, a five-year programme to identify the conditions necessary to achieve equity of health outcomes for Māori; and the seven-year Whakauae Platform Plan aimed at supporting and building Indigenous health research capacity and capability.
Dr Boulton holds several governance positions, in addition to appointments as an Adjunct Professor at the Health Services Research Centre, Victoria University of Wellington and in the Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences at Auckland University of Technology (AUT).
Pā Rōpata (Rob) McGowan QSM (Keynote speaker)
“Heal the land and you heal the people.”
Rob McGowan, known to many as Pā Rōpata, has been a teacher of rongoā Māori for more than 30 years. He is a founding member of Tāne’s Tree Trust and has long worked for the Department of Conservation’s Ngā Whenua Rāhui unit, which works to protect indigenous ecosystems on Māori-owned land. Rob is the pou kōrero for Tīwaiwaka, a movement set up to meet the challenge of climate change.
Rob has been awarded the Loder Cup and a Queen’s Service Medal for his services to Māori and conservation.
