Kerensa Johnston (Chair)

Kerensa is the Chief Executive of Wakatū Incorporation, a hapū-owned organisation based in Whakatū (Nelson), which owns Kono NZ LP, an export food and beverage business; AuOra, focused on science and nutrition and Whenua, its land and property business. Committed to its 500 year intergenerational plan, Te Pae Tawhiti, Wakatū has an active social and cultural development arm which is committed to building whānau capability and innovation as well as achieving the Te Tau Ihu intergenerational strategy for the region, which includes constitutional reform.

Kerensa has a legal background and has worked as a solicitor in the private sector, as a Barrister, and as a legal academic at the Faculty of Law, University of Auckland, where she specialised in Māori legal development, public law, land law and international law. Kerensa joined Wakatū as General Counsel in December 2012, and was appointed Chief Executive in 2016.

Kerensa is also the Chair of Ngāti Tama ki te Tau Ihu Charitable Trust. She is a member of the International Association of Corporate Counsel, Corporate Lawyers’ New Zealand and Te Hunga Roia.