Tairāwhiti Local Advisory Committee

Georgina joins the Tairāwhiti Local Advisory Committee with significant governance experience across charities and government, a degree in business, and Not-for-Profit Management.

Her whakapapa connects to Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Mutunga ki Wharekauri, Tainui, Maniapoto.

She now shares her time between various contracted roles within the community and health sector, and in the community as Chair of the Te Whatu Ora Tairāwhiti Consumer Council, Pharmac Consumer Advisory Committee, newly appointed to RANZCOG and the National Palliative Steering Group and remains an active Justice of the Peace within the Tairāwhiti region.

She is focused on community well-being and aspirations.

Hiki’s whakapapa extends to all four marae in Tokomaru Bay. She worked as a Clinical Dietitian and Team Leader before retiring from those roles in 2021.

Hiki is the Deputy Programme Lead for the Tairāwhiti Interprofessional Education Programme by Otago University, based at Te Whatu Ora Tairāwhiti, in Gisborne.

She brings significant governance experience from various roles held in the health sector that includes two terms as an elected member of Tairāwhiti District Health Board and is serving her third term on the Dietitians Board.

She currently serves in a voluntary role on the Board of SuperGrans Tairawhiti.

Midge brings significant leadership and governance experience to the Tairāwhiti LAC. Midge is currently employed at Trust Tairāwhiti as the Regional Business Support Manager, and as Company Director of Tihi Innovation Limited. She recently was a Board Trustee for Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Whatatutu.

A community leader, Midge is the Branch President of the Mangatū Māori Women’s Welfare League Branch, is actively involved in Te Hāhi Wairua Tapu at Mangatū Marae, a branch of Te Hāhi Ringatū, and is also a marae trustee Te Kumi Marae in Te Kūiti.

Midge has worked as a Sorted Kainga Ora (SKO) facilitator to deliver programmes to whānau, and also delivered Financial Literacy and business programme at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.

TEE MONTGOMERY (Member)

Tee is a community advocate, having previously held a role as Iwi Liaison Advisor for Gisborne District Council from 2019 to 2022, and currently works at Te Rūnanga o Tūranganui a Kiwa.  

She was on the Board of Trustees for Te Kura Māori o Ngā Uri a Māui for six years and on the Board of Trustees for Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Horouta Wānanga. She is currently a committee member of Surfcity Squash Club. 

Tee is passionate about working to serve the iwi of Te Tairāwhiti through supporting the response at Tairāwhiti Civil Defence. 

Shane’s whakapapa connects him to Ngāti Porou and Nga Puhi.  

He has two decades’ worth of experience in the security sector, where he currently works as a manager and airport security supervisor. 

Shane previously worked as a community work supervisor for the Department of Corrections and has been contracted to the Ministry of Justice. 

He is connected to the community as a volunteer training staff member for the New Zealand Cadet Forces with the City of Gisborne Cadet Unit and has spent the last 20 years coaching secondary school basketball.  

Meredith has a background in education and community engagement and has worked for the last 20 years as an itinerant health teacher and promoter, working to deliver health education programmes for tamariki in primary and secondary schools.

She has a background in governance that includes three terms as a Gisborne District Councillor and two terms as an elected member of the Hauora Tairāwhiti Health Board.