Vanessa moved back into the chair’s position in April 2021 after having previously served for a number of years as chair, then deputy chair for a period, helping lead the council through a busy time of change for Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.

Vanessa’s key roles include being chair of the Raukawa Settlement Trust since 2012 and being the director and former chairperson of Raukawa Iwi Development Ltd, the $140 million commercial arm of the iwi.

Also, as chair of the Raukawa Charitable Trust, Vanessa leads strategy and oversight of the trust’s social, cultural and environmental operations.

In addition to these roles she chairs Te Kākano Whakatipu Ltd – a company of six central North Island iwi with forestry interests in Kaingaroa – and is a director of Central North Island Iwi Holdings Limited, which is tasked with negotiating and finalising the replant right and investment option over the Kaingaroa Forest with the NZ Super Fund.