LAURISSA COONEY Te Ātihaunui-a Paparangi, Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāti Kahungungu Laurissa Cooney has been appointed as an independent member of the Audit and Risk Committee for Ātihau Whanganui Incorporation. She is a chartered accountant and has a Bachelor of Management Students with Honours majoring in Accounting and Māori Resource Management. Laurissa is currently the Chief Financial Officer for Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi in Whakatāne. She has worked with the accounting firm, Deloitte in Auckland, America, and London. Upon returning to New Zealand from London in 2008, she was based in Auckland. In January 2013 Laurissa, her husband and two small children left the busy city life and moved to Whakatāne to enjoy a more
regional whānau lifestyle and to work at Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi. While Laurissa is currently working in Whakatāne, she regularly comes home to Raetihi and the Whanganui River to visit whānau. Laurissa was born in Raetihi and attended Raetihi primary as a child. Her mum Karen resides in Raetihi. Her maternal grandparents are the late Austin and Christine Brooks (nee Tapa) and her paternal grandfather Mr Charles Lloyd Sommerville, previously farmed on the Oruakukuru Road, just south of Raetihi. Laurissa had connections to various marae on the Whanganui River including Ranana, Koriniti, Atene and Parikino.
Laurissa is passionate about building a stronger connection to her iwi and whenua. She is enthusiastic in offering her vast expertise to contribute to the ongoing success of AWHI and to give back to her people her skills and knowledge. She is welcoming the opportunity to work with Ātihau Whanganui Incorporation and the Audit and Risk Committee.
FRANCENE WINETI Te Āti Haunui a Paparangi, Ngāti Kahungungu ki Te Wairoa Francene Wineti has been appointed to the Ātihau Whanganui Incorporation board as an Associate Director. Francene’s late father John Wineti is from Koroniti where he was raised in his early years by his father Te One Wineti and his mother, Te Paea (Polly) Wineti (nee Taunoa) along with his five siblings. Her great grandfather is Eruera Tangaroa and great grandmother Rihipehi Teki. Francene was raised in Tauranga and has a Masters in Aquaculture from Deakin University in Australia, and will be graduating in December with a Master in Business Administration from Victoria University of Wellington. She is currently working at Callaghan Innovation as a Māori Business
manager. Her role is to work with Māori to increase their return on investment in research and development, and to help them gain market advantage through the commercialisation of leading edge ideas and new products. She has considerable experience in the fisheries and aquaculture sector previously working for New Zealand King Salmon as a fish health performance scientist and at Te Ohu Kaimoana in fisheries and aquaculture policy, operations and industry development. She was one of the early recipients of the Te Ohu Kaimoana and Nippon Suisan Kaisha Global Fisheries Scholarship programme to Japan which proved a great stepping stone to gaining international business exposure.
Francene is currently a director on Whanganui Iwi Fisheries Limited and a shareholder of AWHI. “My aspirations for AWHI are to grow the asset base and wealth in all aspects, so that the benefits can be accrued for the beneficiaries. If the commercial entity is strong and healthy then our iwi will be too”. Francene lives in Wellington with her partner Pereri Hathaway and three year old daughter Te Paea. 9