Te Whānau

Aaron is a Professor in the Economics and Finance department. He graduated with a PhD from AUT in 2007. He researches empirical finance, with a particular interest in regulation, market microstructure and the area of financial capability. He is currently researching how individuals can make smarter financial decisions to build long-term financial wellbeing.

Ella teaches in the Marketing and International Business department and is also director of Māori Advancement for the Business School. Ella has been researching Māori Indigenous business and development for over thirty years. Ella was born in Kaitaia, but raised in Auckland, unapologetically loud and proud, mother of three wāhine and grandmother of three mokopuna. In 2022 Ella was made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

Khylee Quince was in 2021 appointed the first Māori Dean of a School of Law in New Zealand. She is also Director of Māori Advancement for the Law School, and her teaching and research interests include criminal law, youth justice and Māori legal issues.

Peter is a pāpā of two wonderful tamariki, both of whom think they know more about everything than he does. Peter has always been fascinated by philosophy and religion, and consequently teaches and researches in the areas of business ethics, sustainability and spirituality in the workplace.

Megan was born and grew up in West Tāmaki Makaurau. She is a māmā to two beautiful tamariki. She is a Royal Society Marsden Fast Start recipient, passionate about creating a better Aotearoa New Zealand. She is deeply concerned about the continued impacts of colonisation and actively seeks ways to bring about change. She is currently working on projects such as the Mānuka honey pūrākau, Māori marketers' perspectives on contemporary issues in marketing, and Indigenous and Māori marketing pukapuka.

Paulette Brazzale grew up in the Wairarapa and Manawatu and now calls Tāmaki Makaurau home. Paulette worked as a food technologist and manager before becoming an organisational psychologist, and further her interest in employees' experiences of change at work through her PhD research, which she completed in 2022.

Layne is an artist and legal expert, whose PhD focused on socio-legal performance. She was previously a learning advisor with AUT.

Jack’s research interests are broadly concerned with community-led initiatives and just economic transformation, with a particular focus on Indigenous-led projects and the futures they lead. This research pairs understandings of diverse business practices 'on the ground', with critical interpretations of how they are positioned within wider institutional contexts, seeking to highlight potentialities for economic justice. His doctoral research focused on Māori-led housing and finance projects and their efforts to create more just housing economies in regional Aotearoa.

Janisa was the top Māori graduate in the Master of Business 2024, and is working towards her PhD in management, exploring kaupapa Māori approaches to uplift communities. Janisa is a lecturer in the Management Technology and Organisation department and a proud māmā. Janisa teaches human resource management, ethics and management, with research interests in Māori leadership and occupational health and safety.

Sophie’s PhD examined climate change displacement from the Pacific to Aotearoa New Zealand from a tikanga perspective. Her work uses decolonised methodologies to find legal solutions in tikanga itself, before asking how those solutions could be translated into New Zealand state law. She has a particular focus on examples of heke from pre-colonisation Aotearoa, the epistemics of a Māori viewpoint on an international scale, and the ongoing legal association between tikanga and mainstream state law.

Lance is a lecturer in the criminal law team, teaching evidence and criminal procedure. Passionate about justice and penal reform, his doctoral work explores pathways for tikanga Māori to transform the restorative justice space. His goal is to challenge conventional legal frameworks through Māori-led solutions, and to advance accessibility to the profession for the next generation of tauira Māori.

Kristie was born in Tāmaki Makaurau, is mama to a teen daughter, and works in research development management in the Faculty of Business, Economics and Law Faculty Office. She is studying towards a Master of Business (Management), undertaking research on unions and employee wellbeing. Kristie is also branch and national executive member of the Tertiary Institutes Allied Staff Association (TIASA Te Hononga).

Shilah coordinates the Pike Ake Tuakana Teina Peer Tutor programme, teaches Introduction to Entrepreneurship and Strategy in Uncertain Times, and has previously been a research assistant for Professor Ella Henry and for the Neuroscience Department.

Precorqtion is a Master of Business student, having graduated in 2022 with a Bachelor of Business in Marketing, Retail and Sales with minors in Māori Development & Diversity and Inclusion.

Lauryn is enrolled in a Bachelor of Business and Bachelor of Laws here at AUT, and has also worked as a law clerk while studying. Her business major is in International Business and Strategy, and her law interests gravitate towards public and commercial law.

Anahera is a 3rd-year Bachelor of Laws student and practising Registered Legal Executive. She has two children and two mokopuna.

Ciccone is a third-year Bachelor of Business student, majoring in International Business and Strategy, with minors in Marketing and Management. Ciccone recently completed two internships with the NZ Superannuation Fund in their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) team and their Enterprise Change team.

Daysha completed her PhD in International Business, Strategy & Entrepreneurship in 2025.

Tania completed her PhD in Management in 2024.

Jyl is a mother of two and a PhD candidate in Marketing at AUT. With over 20 years’ marketing experience in New Zealand and the United Kingdom, she develops Māori-centred AI and digital marketing tools that uphold cultural values and data sovereignty.

Katene is a PhD candidate in Business, Economics and Law. His thesis examines how Māori leaders enact mana-based authority across enterprise and Māori Anglican contexts, choosing alignment, adaptation, or principled non-alignment. Using Kaupapa Māori methodology, he identifies institutional enablers and constraints shaping Indigenous leadership and cross-sector learning.