Tāmaki Paenga Hira, Auckland War Memorial Museum today announced the appointment of three new Trust Board Members.

Lupematasila Misatauveve Dr Melani Anae QSO is Associate Professor in Pacific Studies at the University of Auckland. Her sustained leadership in research and teaching is based on three interconnected strands – Pacific activism/social justice; Pacific empowerment/leadership and ethnic identity work; and a liberating education/teu le va (relational ethics). Professor Anae was one of the foundational members of the Polynesian Panther Party and over the last 50 years she has continued to advocate for human rights in Aotearoa. She is a recipient of a Fulbright New Zealand Senior Scholar Award and a Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Award, and in 2008 was made a Companion to the Queen’s Service Order for services to Pacific communities in New Zealand.

Distinguished Professor Emeritus Paul Spoonley is a sociologist from Massey University where his specialist area is social and demographic change and how these changes impact on policy and public understanding. A former Pro Vice-Chancellor of Massey University's College of Humanities and Social Sciences, he is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand, and affiliate of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity. He is Chair of Metropolis, the largest global network of immigration and diversity specialists. Paul is a regular commentator in the news media. His work on racism, immigration and ethnicity is widely discussed in the wake of the Christchurch Mosque shootings (2019) and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Alastair Carruthers CNZM is the co-founder and director of Homeland, a food embassy based in Auckland. He is a member and was the interim chair of Ringa Hora, the Services Workforce Development Council for the Tertiary Education Commission. He is a Board member of Auckland Unlimited, the Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Board and Cornwall Park Trust Board. He has been Chair of the Allpress Espresso group, Co-Chair of Te Papa Foundation, Chair of the NZ Arts Council, Creative NZ, and its investment board, and a member of supervision boards for the Transport and Statistics Ministries. Alastair is a former council member and interim CEO of Unitec. He was Commissioner of the official NZ exhibition at the 2017 Venice Biennale of Art and has over 20 years’ prior experience as the CEO of two large NZ corporate and commercial law firms.

Two of the new appointments have been made by the Auckland Museum Institute (AMI), and Auckland Council has made one new appointment and re-appointed two sitting Trust Board members.

Dr Roger Lins President of the Auckland Museum Institute says, “The Auckland Museum Institute is delighted to appoint both Dr Anae and Professor Spoonley to the Auckland Museum Trust Board. Both have distinguished academic careers that will further enhance Auckland Museum’s connections with the tertiary research sector and continue the mission of the Auckland Museum to promote knowledge sharing and learning.”

Outgoing Auckland Museum Trust Board Chair, Orchid Atimalala says the experience and skills of the new appointments will bring new capability to the Board in its mission to serve the people of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.

“I personally welcome Melani, Paul and Alastair to the Tāmaki Paenga Hira whanau and look forward to their energetic contribution- malo lava, Melani, Paul ma Alastair ; o lo outou ava lena,” says Ms Atimalala.

“Also, importantly at this time I want to publicly acknowledge Trust Board colleagues Rick Carlyon and Mark Binns; both of whom are stepping down from the Board with me. I thank them for their service and have truly valued their spirit of servant leadership on the Board.”

Orchid Atimalala joined the Auckland War Memorial Museum Trust Board in 2013 and was elected as Chairperson in 2018. She became the first Chair of Pasifika heritage. She has been an advocate for the unique role the Museum plays in shaping the cultural identity of Tāmaki Makaurau and has overseen a period of significant transformation.

The Auckland Museum Trust Board is a ten-member Board, with five members appointed by Auckland Council, four by Auckland Museum Institute (AMI) and one by the Museum’s Taumata-ā-Iwi.

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