Arihia Bennett, former Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu chief executive.
Arihia Bennett, former Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu chief executive.
Having only recently stepped down as Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu’s first woman and longest-serving CEO, Arihia Bennett (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Porou, Ngāpuhi) was not expecting news of a King’s Birthday Honour to arrive in the mail. But it did, much to her delight.
“Shocked” is how Bennett describes learning she has been made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM) for services to Māori, governance and the community.
In fact, Bennett thought she had done her dash with awards more than 15 years ago.
“I’m, obviously, quite surprised and shocked because in 2008 I received the Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit [MNZM], and so, of course, when I got that I thought, ‘Okay, that’s great’. So I wasn’t expecting anything else.”
Sir Tipene O'Regan and National Minister Sir Doug Graham sign the Ngāi Tahu settlement in 1995.
‘A fabulous job’
The honour is a wonderful surprise, she says.
“I only found out about it probably six weeks ago. I was just freshly out of Ngāi Tahu and I was thinking, oh, I was really quite delighted and surprised. It just helped me consolidate and reflect on what a fabulous job I’ve had for 12 years.”
Bennett was Ngāi Tahu CEO from 2012 to 2024. She oversaw the growth of the iwi’s finances and assets, which amount to more than $1.9 billion and include more than $600 million in properties.
Under her leadership, Ngāi Tahu worked with the Government and Christchurch City Council to assist with the 2011 Canterbury earthquakes and the 2019 Christchurch terrorist attack.
She also aided in Ngāi Tahu connecting with learning institutions in the United States, supporting iwi to work with green energy.
Bennett says she is humbled by the honour but is clear that it is a shared acknowledgement of the contributions of many.
“I was really honoured and the word is humble because you don’t get here on your own, you get here with whānau on your shoulders, also pulling your ears and making sure you’re toeing the line.
“This has come through lifelong learning of being around whānau, being around the wider community, working with families in the community.
“This isn’t an individual achievement. There’s lots of folks on my shoulders and, you know, a lot of them have passed on now. It’s really important to acknowledge that. That’s where I did all my learning. from my older people around me, in those critical growing up years of beginning to carve out what my career was going to be.”
Arihia Bennett.
‘Really important to me’
Bennett was He Oranga Pounamu CEO from 2011 to 2012, the iwi-mandated organisation for health and social services in Te Waipounamu, and has served on the boards of Barnardos New Zealand and Christchurch Women’s Refuge (now Aviva).
She is a member of the Global Women’s Network and the Tuahiwi Māori Women’s Welfare League.
Bennett says she is especially pleased the honour recognises her community involvement.
“I’ve grown up in a world of community development and so receiving this award in terms of services to the community and to our own people has always been really, really important to me because my whole working career has been in community development.
“Really early on, I chose social work, I chose community development. And even though all of my professions have been in community development, right through to the last role as CEO of Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, that’s actually community development. People perceive it as you’re in a commercial world. That’s one part of it.
“But if you’re supporting, enabling and growing an asset base within the iwi, it’s also about return back to our people. So they can grow, develop and build their own business, their own community development and their own whānau development as well.”
Life after Ngāi Tahu
Life remains busy for Bennett but is also very joyful, with lots of time for whānau.
“As of today, it’s two months that I’ve been out of a job. I’ve quickly moved into a number of board roles, which I had undertaken while I was at Ngāi Tahu. Two or three Crown board roles.
“I’m so grateful for the experiences of actually working with whānau and community and being allowed to walk alongside whānau in their development, and being enabled to come into their lives to support them.
“That’s always the approach that I’ve grown up with. I’ve just been lucky to take my social work perspective into all of these jobs I’ve had along the way.
“Probably, the one big thing that does stand out is being in this role as a real servant leader.
“The most important thing is that people have to be enabled to grow their sense of culture and identity and their connection to being Ngāi Tahu.”
