11 February, 2019

Waikato District Council will soon be building stronger relationships with iwi and the wider community thanks to the appointment of Sam Toka as its new Iwi and Community Partnership Manager.

Mr Toka, who starts in the role today, has over 24 years’ experience with iwi and tangata whenua relationship building – most recently working in the professional consulting industry. He has worked extensively on NZTA projects in recent times.

Mr Toka has built, developed, organised, managed and maintained long-term relationships with Maaori within the Tainui region and nationally. He has worked with a broad range of stakeholders, such as local and central government, government agencies, corporations, businesses and wider communities of interest.

His leadership and liaison position at Council will be to continually focus on developing strategic and purposeful relationships – partnering with stakeholders to achieve goals and rewarding outcomes.

Mr Toka says he is looking forward to starting in his role as Pouhono Iwi ki te Haapori this month.
“Being able to utilise my skills to foster and develop Waikato district communities and their relationship with iwi will be a real privilege. I’m really looking forward to the opportunity.”

Council Chief Executive Gavin Ion says he is looking forward to having Mr Toka as part of the Waikato District Council whanau. “We’re moving to strengthen and build on our relationship with iwi and the wider community and Sam will play a crucial role in helping us achieve our goals of creating liveable, thriving and connected communities. I’m looking forward to working closely with Sam to work on these relationships to build a stronger Waikato district.”

ENDS

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