Wednesday 30 September 2009

NGAI TAHU STRUGGLES TO HOLD GOOD STAFF

Another one bites the dust.

In ten years, under the barren leadership of Mark Solomon , Ngai Tahu has had seven Ngai Tahu Holding Corp chairs. Te Runanga O Ngai Tahu has had 3 CEO's and Ngai Tahu Holding Corporation has had three CEO's.

Other iwi are laughing fit to kill as Ngai Tahu picks good people but they dont last the distance so they are quickly picked up by other tribes.

And we have also heard that there is considerable concern among some key iwi about the lack of relationship skills withing the top ranks of Ngai Tahu. There are heaps of opportunities out there for iwi but it requires them to work with other iwi to get the economies of scale needed to capitalise on the deals on offer. One described Ngai Tahu's attidude as " bare faced arrogance."
Another suggested to Roarprawn that the tribe was fast losing mana due to their lack of willingness to forge business relationships.
For Ngai Tahu to succeed it needs to ensure that people who are good at building relationships and have sound financial acumen are sitting around the top table and commanding the boardroom. Never before have the tribal elections been so important to our people. They need to reflect on the fragmented leadership of the past, look to new blood and put aside the deep rooted inter family differences.

Our future depends on it.



Kia ora anō tātou

It is with regret that I announce that Richard Coleman has resigned from his position as Chief Executive Ngāi Tahu Seafood (Acting).
Richard has a long history working for Ngāi Tahu. In January 1995 he was appointed as Accountant / Operations Manager for the joint venture, Ngāi Tahu Pacific Fisheries. When the JV was wound up in 1997, Richard joined Ngāi Tahu Seafood and in September 2005, he moved to Ngāi Tahu Holdings as Investment Manager.
Since June 2008, Richard has been Acting Chief Executive of Ngāi Tahu Seafood and brought his usual exceptional passion and commitment to that role. He has led a range of diverse and challenging initiatives with very pleasing outcomes for the business including a revised strategic direction; a new wetfish business model; a supply chain review resulting in recognition as a premium lobster supplier to the export markets; acceptance into the New Zealand Trade and Enterprise Beachheads programme; comprehensive systems to manage compliance and H&S risks; and a succession plan in the Bluff lobster fishery allowing young Ngāi Tahu fishers the opportunity to build successful businesses and become the next generation of experienced lobster fishers.
In addition to these achievements and of particular note is that NTS (in tough economic times) recorded its highest trading EBIT, since its inception, in the 2008-09 financial year under Richard's leadership.
Richard's strong leadership and hard work over the past 15 months sees us very well positioned for financial success, wealth creation and growth as we embark on the next exciting stage in the development of the Ngāi Tahu Seafood business.
I'd like to acknowledge Richard's significant contribution to Ngāi Tahu over the last 15 years and wish him, his wife Kate and his three children, all the very best in their next adventure. Richard has always been held in high respect by anyone who has worked with him and he will be hugely missed by all. His last day of work will be 31 January 2010 and closer to that date we will announce details of his poroporoaki.

Trevor Burt
Chair
Ngai Tahu Holdings Corporation

18 comments:

Unknown said...

the top table can not even forge relationships amongst themselves. And while we have all been waiting eagarly for elections we then see some of these obstructive top table members re appointed like Tim Roachford.

Anonymous said...

Is this guy Tim Roachford for real, he seems to thrive on stirring up trouble and then trying to test his lecturing skills on people, I heard him speak in Wellington at a Health Seminar earlier this year and he was very over rated, I have met the guy twice before and he is scathing of certain people at the table, of whom I have the up most respect for as they are real Tuturu reps who have worked hard for their Marae and people for most of their live's, and funny no one seems to have ever heard of Tim Roachford.

Hone said...

Wrong Anonymous! Tim is a good guy, it is oblivious that you underestimate him and his re appointment.
Get over it!

Chief said...

I understand that Roachford and his Runanga never! ran a democratic vote,(therefore no paticipation for our people) the election process that we were assured of was there would be democratic votes for reps from each runanga,and that is how Ngai Tahu Whanui would get their oppotunity to participate.
All board members who have not had democratic votes should all get off tront!!!! who do you people think you are to be responsible for our Money and Assets.
Our runanga members were saying reps should be there for 2 terms just like the American President, well just ask the American people about that, they lost Clinton and got Bush!!!!for me its not about how long your there, its about doing a good job for your people, and some are clearly there for themselves and are trying to protect others and themselves, I have seen and heard some of the reps speak at the table and have to say some of them are very limited in their speech and Intelligence I was very disappointed that we still have people like this at the very top level of Ngai Tahu.(Some of the reps can't even say basic Maori, I find their comments and bad pronunciation very offensive). We all thought the election process would weed out most of these ingrates but unfortunatley a few of them managed to wriggle their way back in by saying they could get more than 10/7/5 people to go on the election committee,why are these's runanga allowed to recieve funding for less that 10 people!.
I'm sure some of them will come up with the excuse's like, no one wanted to/ we saved money by not having an Postal vote/ and you can't make people go onto committee's, well I bet if you paid them $1000.00 per meeting you would get more than 5 real quick!and skilled people would apply for the election committee's.
So Mr Roachfords reappointment was not democratic for Ngai Tahu Whanui, and hopefully this will be rectified in the very near future!.
So get a grip Hone! you and your good guy are in for a bumpy ride Amigo!! and no Hone I never underestimate snakes!.

Anonymous said...

You go on about not being able to speak and pronounce Maori correctly, but look at your English, all of you. "It is oblivious that you underestimate" ? I think you mean "obvious". Whakama.

Anonymous said...

BB as you know I have been writing about goings on in NT at my blog www.ngaitahushareholders.co.nz for a number of years. - not updated for a while because I want to get a feel for the elections. These are not looking promising. In Sept last year the Concil met to approve election rules - approx 50 of them - I was at the meeting, observing. A vote that required a 75% majority was taken and lost- scuppered the small group of malcontents who have been causing so many problems. A poor compromise was reached whereby marae were allowed to run their own elections under some very broad guidelines. To date there have been some sloppy elections -not using a full voter roll. But there have also been some robust processes
Tim Rochford is a very good rep in my view.
Will not leave comments on your other issues-no time. But the latest wheeze is that there is a legal opinion floating around- no doubt from one of the malcontents- about splitting the tribal assets 18 ways The short answer is that it cannot happen. But it just shows what these people are after.
Suspect this will all end in tears- back to parliament to have the Act changed so this disruption does not happen. Perhaps a return to a regional structure just like the Trust Board days. This would take the inter-marae politics out of it.
Cheers
Richard

Marty Mars said...

Ummm 15 years is a good effort over a long time but it hardly shows a big exodus. Thanks for your mahi Richard.

How many Ngai Tahu have been made redundant from the Office?

Now is the chance to employ an Iwi member.

Anonymous said...

Kia ora Marty,
Not sure what you mean about " Ummm 15 years is a good effort over a long time but it hardly shows a big exodus" But if it means reps have been there too long I would agree- some have become tired. But there have not been any proper trbal elections since the NT Act in 1996; the latest, as I have said, are not looking promising

Redundancies from the "Office"? Have not heard of any, recently. But nothing can compare with the redundancies by Tahu Potiki, the CEO at the time. In quick time he demolished, NT Development Corporation- the development and spending arm of NT and this resulted in the largest number of NT people to date - incidentally he never replaced the role of NTDC in any other form. TP rorted NT, negotiated with Wally Stone, by being given a double redundancy. How long are NT shareholders going to put up with this?

BB has always been critical of Mark Solomon. But, like the "malcontents can provide no reasons for her displeasure. Perhaps BB might like be a little more specific?
Richard

hone said...

Richard parata never substantiates anything other than personal attacks & speculation!
i would dearly like to be involved in a tribal debate in down sizing Te Runanga corporate and putting more investment out to the papatipu runanga for regional development e.g. 1/3 investment - 1/3 management & distribution and a 1/3 equally divided by those 18 papatipu runanga.
Kati

Anonymous said...

honi,
Are you a TP or a just a supporter? Either/or, this is the last chance for NT or any other Iwi to get it Right.
BB - have asked your position on NT - what is it?
Richard

Anonymous said...

How interesting, is Terry writing BB's words or is BB writing for Terry?

Apparently neither can count. In the last 10 years there has been one CEO who left TR and two who left NTHC. I might also note that Terry N was an advocate for the dismissal of one of the CE's from NTHC despite it not being the business of TR to ask for such a thing.

It may be true that some folks who have moved on from TR will get to fleece other iwi as they have fleeced Ngai Tahu. There is other folks who will add value wherever they move on. Richard Coleman is in the latter category.

It may well be the case that following Wally's departure a number of folks saw the writing on the wall and chose to take the $$ and run before they had to be accountable but this is not the case here.

To the person who says that Makaawhio did not run a democratic vote - Makaawhio is the only runanga to allow all those who wanted to do so to have a vote on the Representative - while others have had votes on the Appointment Committees Tim R won both the popular vote and the Appointment Committee assesment.

I note that Chief thinks we would get better people as Reps by paying people to go on Appointment Committees - I think we would get better people if we did not pay either the Appointment Committee or the Representatives - if we has people who were sucessful in thier own lives instead of some of the sad and bitter folks we have there now we would be better off

Anonymous said...

I bet Mark Solomon wishes he was as powerful as BB seems to be convinced of!! I'm sure if he REALLY had the power to do all that he is accused of/credited with things would be a lot different around TRoNT!!

As for a very well thought of person deciding to move on after 15 years, how many people do you know these days who work for one place for 15 years? Surely he is allowed to opt for a change without being used as a pawn in someone elses crusade?

With a leaving date of 31 Jan 2010, he hardly seems to be signalling a "stick your job" attitude??

Anonymous said...

Nor does a leaving date of Jan 2010 sound like he was forced out. Maybe he just felt it was time for a change and he wanted to give the new Seafood Board time to find a replacement. Maybe it is an event so ordinary that it should not have ever found its way into the public arena.

Anonymous said...

Wow very interesting debate and its clear alot of you have inside information in the dealings of TRoNT but you do not have the knowledge of the staff. I would like to point out that I am not in either camp but have been watching the development with great interest. I was one of the staff that was laid off from the old NTDC and to be honest I thought because of the reason it was a good thing. NT Fund, Whai Rawa was the development of the lay offs and the idea fo Potiki and his management team.
There has been too much NT staff leaving and it is sad to see, Richard Coleman was an excellent worker and gave his all for the tribe, so it makes me wonder why he is leaving!!

I have no faith in the current TRoNT table and as long as the current ones are on there I never will. They have said that they will be reducing the allocation of the NT Fund and Whai Rawa, which are the only direct benefits to NT Whanui because of the recession, which is alot of sh*t. There have been alot of staff re-employed and Anake is still employing so something has to give, which is NT Fund and Whai Rawa.

I am sorry to say that I have witnessed Mark's bullying of staff and the way he treats them, he is the Kaiwhakahaere not a manager but senior management just sweeps it under the carpet, don't get me wrong before I witnessed all of this I was his number one fan but sadly that is now not the case.

I also cannot see the justification of Anake employing his wife to manage some of the events within NT, especially since NT have their own events manager, or is it just more putea in the house hold........very sad.

Richard P will always be the voice of Mark as he is pushing for the members seat on Te Runanga, but lets be real why have another puppet on the table, there already is enough!

How to fix this...... Get rid of the whole table or set a fixed rep term. At the Kaikoura meeting I heard that they tried to introduce a fixed 3 term (9 years) on their rep and the Mark fans protested this. They did not take the person out of the decision and just leave it as the role, some say Mark is doing a good job (as Kaiwhakahaere maybe but not as rep) but there could be someone else even better, isn't that the whole idea so succession, the term that Te Runanga alwasys advertise.

Well that's enough from me and there will always be supporters and critics, but look deap within the structure of TRoNT its not as 'clean cut' as you think.

Unknown said...

Tribal politics always a great debate. BB, its interesting that you dont even have to comment and you fire up the boys.

I support the comments of 6 October. The decision to close Development Corp was made at the TRoNT table not by Potiki...although I am sure he would love to be oh so powerful, fortunatly not. Although he and his team were responsible for Whai Rawa and NT Fund both brilliant programmes that will suffer due to extravagant projects like the House of Tahu.

Parata has such a short memory, not to long ago he was a Holding Corp director part of the Pratt crew that got the tribe into all sorts of financial bother, I remember the challenges put to Pratt and his crew at the Hui A Tau.

There are a number of Papatipu Runanga who have not run electoral process under the guise that they dont need to as not enough people stood for the electoral college, what a crock. The Makaawhio process was also a crock dont kid yourself on that one, lift the lid and you wont have to look hard to see the manipulative process used.

Ngai Tahu whanui need change at the table in the leadership or we are going to have to wait another three years to clean up house.

Anonymous said...

ngai tahu ngai tahu, where r you?

To some Tront is a glorious smooth running entity,and to the majority of tribal members a good vehicle being driven by many blind drivers in too many different directions.

Forget nt struggles to hold onto good staff, it cant even hold onto its members of ngai tahu.

11 years of disorganised calamity under the reign of king mark hater and his posse of self proserving cronnies.

Every attempt for his removal has been white washed by tront,forgotten due to lack of response by tront,side stepped by rewriting charters of tront or takahanga,or carefully set to the side by clever pr workers at his call which the tribe pays for.

where are you Ngai Tahu?

Whenever did Ngai Tahu Give in To the ransom of one self proclaimed leader?never.He would of had his head put on a pole for all to see what happens to those who think themselves greater than the tribe.

as for the tribes chance to fairly reappoint a new set of runanga reps and a new kaiwhakahaare,you all are being fooled again.What fair election,gives the individual marae the choice of voter roles to use and suit themselves.Has anyone actually read the election rules and Q+a. Kaikoura is still taking to the whakapapa unit to work out who can vote? Another stall tactic of your current kaiwhakwit?

As a tirbe member i recieved 7 invites to vote,and had 4 voting forms sent out.It was only when pondering through the nt election website that I found that some marae request that you should write to them to express and see if you are elegible to vote.

The whakapapa unit has been in operation for many decades now.If you dont know who is who,and who should have a say where by now,expect to have your tribe governed by selfserving fools and a few honest souls for eternity.

Tront is a mechanism for the people.In the last 11 years that has been reversed to a few dicks in suits you payed for, dictating your future. Excuse my bluntness, but do you all want another three years of shame ?

And what a leader he is now.most common comment by him of late is "no comment",or a pr written media release that are not his words.And well you all can recall bluff this year where he talked face to face to all.Yeah right!

Do all of you ngai tahu members condone your Kaiwhakahaare covering up a whai rewa theft by dear peter.What did mark do?nothing.just had pete transfered to the elections department of tront.That good old cuzzie bro way of in house cleaning and cover ups.kai pai!

On maori tv this year mark couldnt answer a simple question of how many staff did tront roughly employ? Then when faced with how many trible members did tront employ he said he didnt know?

Is this simple man really the future for the tribe?

Even when asked to stand down by his own family he dictated the terms to his kaumatua?

Ngai tahu will never move in the right direction with a puppet steering and dictating the direction for the tribe.

Time to reclaim your mana Ngai Tahu.Will you be the generation that dwindled away the tribes assets ,for the sake of speaking out against a few thugs.Will that be your history that will be recieved by your great grandchildren in many years to come?

The past cannot be changed,the future is only made now,so what will you do for your people?

Hui a tau,give it ago
use your choice,we have a voice...

Anonymous said...

Brother you need a hug!!!!

Anonymous said...

Well the Hui-a-Tau was great, the weather was a bit much on the Saturday but the hui went on, just at a quicker note. A shame on the Sunday once again Mark and the TRoNT corporate only gave limited time for members to speak...two hours, shocking. When members stood up and expressed their disappointment with some issues, Mark said 'it wasn't the table, it was that department' and what did ole Anake do to answer this members questions "nothing" he sat there with a stupid look on his face. But its being the normal pattern the TRoNT table and Management trying to control everything but not give the whanui enough time to talk.