Our Tai Tokerau Trades Training team is experienced in working across the various sectors of vocational education at grass roots and management levels, within Private Training Establishments (PTE), Industry Training Organisations (ITOs), NorthTec and across the trades and other diverse industries.
Our EEB team members have worked across schools in supporting them with Gateway, Star and other programmes.
Meet our Education to Employment Brokerage (EEB) Team
Jenny Walker
Industry Liaison
Ngāpuhi; Ngāti Whātua; Te Uri o Hau
Jenny joins the team with a wide range of experience in sales and recruitment liaising with many industries throughout Northland. She has developed significant and well-established industry networks to support her community into successful training, employment, career opportunities.
Jenny is passionate about meeting new people and prides herself by supporting people to fulfil their career goals and aspirations.
Jenny is an outdoor green finger adventurer, who also enjoys outdoor fitness activities, such as daily walks, as well as spending quality time with her whanau.
Regina Rapata
Ngāpuhi; Ngati Kura; Ngati Rehia; Te Rarawa
Regina joins our team with relevant experience in tertiary education, specialising in marketing, recruitment and student support.
Regina has primarily supported secondary schools, youth and community transition into a wide range of tertiary training and career pathways.
Over her career, Regina has developed significant stakeholder networks across various sectors within Tai Tokerau.
Regina is passionate about tai tamariki and community development in supporting the transition to achieve their goals and dream careers. A major milestone for Regina was being the first in her whānau to graduate with a degree. Regina hopes to share her knowledge and skills to empower youth, whānau, hapu and iwi across Northland
Alice Furrell
Vocational Coordinator
Alice comes to the team with great knowledge and experience in hospitality management and business owner. She has a degree in Architecture and has a great of knowledge the building industry.
Alice discovered her ultimate passion to create positive social change in Northland by supporting youth through their transitional journey from education to employment. She is driven to provide life changing supports, such as career exploration, to help young people find and start their dream career.
Alice is a talented, creative artist, who grew up surrounded by horses and the great outdoors. Alice also loves spending quality time with her partner and son.
Meet our Projects Team
Roimata Haika
Te Uri o Hikihiki; Ngāti Wai; Ngāpuhi
Roimata comes to the team with a wide range of experience in the E2E space supporting young people as a Navigator into vocational training careers and opportunities in the trades, retail and primary industries.
During this time Roimata built some strong employer, community and school networks and worked closely and successfully with a wide range of students and young people.
Roimata is driven to help her community prosper and sees the need to nurture and help focus youth as they are the success of our future. One life highlight for Roimata was the opportunity to spend 11 months living and working in Abu Dhabi in 2009 – 2010. This gave her the appreciation of travel, meeting many different people and a wider understanding of different cultures.
Meet our Directors Team
Maea Pivac
People Weavers Raranga Tangata Ltd
Ngāpuhi; Ngāti Wai; Ngāti Whātua
With significant experience in the vocational education arena, Maea has worked across the PTE, ITO, ITP sectors and in industry in a large Northland company with a strong and enduring commitment to industry training.
Maea’s first role in a vocational education organisation was at a large Melbourne Institute of Technical and Further Education (TAFE) with several campuses across Melbourne in a HR role. However, for the last 25 years Maea has been based in her hometown of Whangarei working in a mix of vocational education , community based, government, corporate in senior leadership roles, grassroots, advisory, project management and training roles.
Rick Lunn
Smart Trade Solutions Ltd
With extensive experience in vocational education, Rick operates his own training company, Smart Trade Solutions Ltd.
Rick has worked across many industries in recent years and has an extensive network of employers. With his original trade background in Collision Repair, Rick worked across the various fields of automotive services around Northland and Auckland for many years in managing the RTC Modern Apprenticeship programme; building, construction and joinery industries. Over the years Rick has mentored hundreds of apprentices all around Northland and Auckland. Rick is usually the first port of call for advice and support within the Automotive industries in Whangarei and across Tai Tokerau. Rick is seen as a Subject Matter Expert for Collision Repair in NZ.
Meet our Corporate Services Team
Our Corporate Services Team provide all the administration support behind the scenes.
Teyana Turner
Teyana works in the Directorate/Corporate Services Team, to provide HR, administration and H&S support. Her background is in retail, tourism and business management. She has previously worked for a large training centre in Whangarei, supporting students and providing administration support to busy teams.
Teyana is driven to support our team and make a positive difference to Tai Tokerau. Her high energy and big smile are second to none and she provides valuable support to our busy team.
Outside of work Teyana has a busy social life and whanau that she loves spending time with.
Alice Lewis-Sneyd
Alice joins our team with varied corporate experience across NZ, specializing in marketing, client management and recruitment, primarily in the construction industry. Additionally she has experience in case management and problem solving for client case loads.
Alice is passionate about helping people to reach their goals and secure employment in roles they enjoy, and to provide more opportunities for individuals and communities. She works in our Corporate Services team, providing advisory services and support across our projects. In addition to this, she manages marketing, H&S, and assisting with corporate policy development. She is excited to be a part of Tai Tokerau Trades Training journey and to contribute to their awesome work.
Alice’s background also includes time spent teaching SCUBA diving in Tai Tokerau and Australia. She can be found in or around the ocean outside of work, often gathering kai moana for her family.
Meet our Whakaahu Whakamua Team
Kaiāko (Tutors)
Our Kaiāko, or Tutors, work within our Whakaahu Whakamua programme to deliver employability workshops to ākonga across Tai Tokerau. They are a driven and experienced team, and bring a wealth of experience to the foundation education sector in Aotearoa.
Every member of our Kaiāko team have unique skills that they bring to teaching our ākonga. Their backgrounds encompass PTE management, vocational education, theatre/performance, and advocacy.
Our Kaiāko work across Tai Tokerau from Whangarei to Kaitaia. They deliver engaging and fun in-house employability workshops, from problem-solving skill development to resilience training. These workshops are tailored to meet critical industry needs. The workshops are developed specifically for our Whakaahu Whakamua programme.
Our Kaiāko team promote the concept of “Ako”, whereby our staff and ākonga can both teach and learn from each other. This way all our team and our ākonga can feel that their contribution is valued, and they can contribute to their full potential.
Kaiarataki (Navigators)
Our Kaiarataki, or Navigators, are qualified in social work or health disciplines. Their role is to support all ākonga throughout their learning journey on the Whakaahu Whakamua (Employability Skills) programme. They also deliver the unique Kia Mauria te Pono programme, as a part of Whakaahu Whakamua.
Our Kaiarataki provide wrap-around pastoral support to all ākonga on our programmes. This ensures all ākonga have the greatest chance of success. They are passionate about people and have a wealth of experience in social work in Tai Tokerau. Their individual background experience encompasses careers in education, teaching, child protection, and professional supervision. Additionally, they are all dedicated to the concepts of Tika, Pono, and Aroha.
Our Kaiarataki work across all our Whakaahu Whakamua delivery locations in Tai Tokerau. The holistic support and interventions they provide for ākonga assists to guide and manaaki them on their journey into sustainable employment.
Our Kaiarataki team are proud to be doing meaningful mahi in our community and supporting our people to realise their true potential.