Dame Pania TYSON-NATHAN

For services to Māori and business

Ms Pania Tyson-Nathan (Rongomaiwahine) was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2018 for her services to Māori and business.

For three decades, Ms Tyson-Nathan has been dedicated to advancing Māori economic development across various domains including community, business, and government sectors. She was a member of the Māori Economic Development Board, Ministerial Advisory Group on Trade, and is currently on the World Economic Forum’s Sustainable Tourism Council, the Advisory Panel Defence Policy Review, and the Rongomaiwahine Iwi Trust. She has made significant contributions to promoting the growth and development of individuals into prominent leadership positions. She has been Chief Executive of New Zealand Māori Tourism since 2008 and has focused on highlighting the unique opportunity that a Māori experience offers visitors domestically and internationally. In recognition of her contributions to repositioning Māori tourism as deeper and more meaningful, she was named in the top 50 Global Tourism Innovators in 2021. She was awarded the Māori Woman Business Leader award by the University of Auckland in 2018. Ms Tyson-Nathan was recipient of the Te Tupu-ā-Nuku award for Business and Innovation at the 2020 Matariki Awards and was inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame in 2022.