Potaua Biasiny-Tule (Ngāti Whakue, Ngāti Pikiao, Tūhoe, Te Arawa, Te Whānau-Apanui) is a thought leader, digital tech entrepreneur & storyteller.
Potaua is a thought leader, an award-winning digital entrepreneur, and creative technologist passionate about empowering Indigenous communities through innovation. Over the past two decades, he has founded and led multiple ventures across the tech, education, and creative industries, building pathways that connect Māori youth to future-focused careers.
In 2014, he cofounded Digital Natives Academy (DNA), along with his wife Nikolasa. As the founder and CEO of Native Industries, Potaua continues to drive innovation through kaupapa Māori design, digital storytelling, and creative technology projects for iwi, hapū, and community organisations. Potaua has been working in the technology industry since developing one of the first Māori news and information sites, TangataWhenua.com, both he and Nikolasa went on to launch Google Māori.
Potaua’s governance experience spans community, national, and international arenas. He is an elected representative on Te Tatau o Te Arawa (Rotorua Lakes Council), a Trustee for Te Takinga Marae, a Board Member at InternetNZ, and Te Komiti Whakauru Māori (former Chair), guiding strategic engagement between Māori and the internet sector. He also served on the Ministerial Advisory Group for Digital Economy and Digital Inclusion, contributing to national policy development on equitable access to technology, and is currently part of UNESCO’s High-Level Expert Group on AI Governance and Ecosystem-Level Transformation focused on AI ethics at international policy level.
Through all of his work, whether founding organisations, sitting on boards, or developing digital pathways, Potaua is guided by principles of tino rangatiratanga, manaaki, and auahatanga, ensuring Māori values remain central in the digital future of Aotearoa.
Chanz Mikaere (Te Arawa, Tūhourangi-Ngāti Wāhiao, Ngai Te Rangi, Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Pahauwera) is an activist, creator, artist & academic.
Also known as the #KupuSniper, Chanz Mikaere brings more than two decades of conceptual and creative leadership to DNA. An accomplished academic, poet, artist, speaker and writer, she contributes deep critical insight and cultural authority to our governance table. With a Master of Māori Visual Arts (2012) and current PhD studies at Massey University, her work, “Teroism”, centres the deliberate political subversion of colonisation through art, language, and narrative reclamation.
Chanz positions Te Arawa and Ngāi Te Rangi stories at the forefront of global Indigenous arts scholarship, offering DNA a powerful lens across indigenous arts sovereignty, narrative ownership, decolonial creative practice, and cultural resilience. Her integration of art-making, poetry, and critical analysis enriches our strategic direction, ensuring our programmes uphold mātauranga, tikanga, and authentic Indigenous storytelling.
Her governance experience spans Kapenga M Ahuwhenua Trust, Te Kura Pae, Te Arawa Artists Collective, and whānau whenua administration, each grounded in whakapapa and guided by tikanga. This brings DNA a trustee who understands intergenerational responsibility, strategic stewardship, whenua-led decision-making, and the complexities of Māori governance environments.
Chanz has also served nationally as an External Assessor for Creative New Zealand, contributing to the development, evaluation and support of creative excellence across Aotearoa. This experience strengthens DNA’s ability to navigate funding landscapes, champion Indigenous creatives, and uphold national best practice in arts and cultural innovation.
As a trustee of DNA, Chanz provides visionary leadership, cultural depth, critical thinking, and creative excellence, all vital to ensuring that our kaupapa, our rangatahi, and our digital futures remain grounded in truth, art, and transformation.
Morehu Ransfield (Taranaki Tuturu, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Heretaunga) is a social justice advocate & seasoned educational practitioner.
Morehu Ransfield is a seasoned Māori innovator, strategist, and digital equity advocate with over 19 years of kaupapa Māori educational leadership. A visionary committed to uplifting rangatahi, he works at the intersection of culture, identity, and technology, designing transformative pathways grounded in Mātauranga Māori.
Morehu is the Founder and Executive Director of Oranga Matihiko, a kaupapa Māori digital wellbeing and fluency initiative that has grown from a school-based programme into a community-driven movement across Taranaki and throughout Aotearoa. His work champions diverse literacies including gaming, storytelling, and whakapapa as powerful learning tools that build confidence, identity, and belonging.
Morehu also serves as a Board Member of Taranaki Futures, where he works alongside regional leaders to develop sustainable employment pathways for young people. His advocacy ensures that Māori aspirations, cultural foundations, and community-led solutions are embedded into the region’s future workforce development strategies.
Nationally recognised with a Kiwibank Local Hero Medal for his work supporting vulnerable youth, Morehu continues to drive innovative, whānau-centred approaches, including the establishment of the Hui Te Rangiora Digital Technology Hub, which helps build digital confidence, creative exploration, and career pathways across Taranaki.
Guided by whakapapa ties to Parihaka and inspired by the teachings of Te Whiti o Rongomai, Morehu holds a clear philosophy:
“If the system was not built for us, then we build a new one, rooted in our reo, our tikanga, and our tino rangatiratanga.”
Nikolasa Biasiny-Tule (Puerto Rican, Taíno, Dutch, Ashkenazi) is a strategic systems designer, digital equity advocate, & cross-cultural innovator.
Nikolasa Biasiny-Tule is a strategic systems designer and social innovator whose work sits at the intersection of education, technology, youth development, and systems change. She is the cofounder and current CEO of Digital Natives Academy (DNA), Aotearoa’s first kaupapa Māori tech academy, and Native Tech, an NZQA-accredited tertiary education organisation and social enterprise focused on digital and creative tech pathways.
With over 20 years of experience working in the tech industry and walking alongside Māori communities, Nikolasa has designed nationally recognised models that blend cultural identity, digital innovation, and collective wellbeing. Together with Potaua she helped to establish digital hubs in Murupara, Te Wairoa, New Plymouth, Christchurch and Te Waimana, each is still in operation today.
Her expertise spans governance, programme design, policy, and ethical tech development. She currently serves on the board of the NZ Esports Federation. Internationally, she has contributed to AI ethics and Māori data justice research through the Alan Turing Institute and the ICANN grants programme, helping embed Indigenous perspectives into global conversations on tech and governance.
Nikolasa holds a Master of Social Science with First Class Honours in Public Policy and Administration from Waikato University, as well as postgraduate qualifications in Māori and Pacific Development and eEducation. She was instrumental in establishing the online Māori and Pacific Development undergraduate programme where she lectured in the School of Māori & Pacific Development for 5 years.
Te Mauri Kingi (Te Arawa, Tūhoe, Tainui) is a adept leader, animator, & creative innovator deeply grounded in his whakapapa.
Guided by his late pāpā, Mauriora Kingi, Te Mauri was raised with a strong understanding of Te Arawa tikanga, kawa, reo and leadership values that continue to shape his mahi today.
A graduate of Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Koutū and Animation College, Te Mauri was a founding member of 4CompanyB Ltd, a Rotorua-based collective of Māori animators, content creators, storytellers, and IT innovators committed to advancing Māori narratives through creative technology.
Te Mauri has extended his leadership through service on multiple boards within Te Arawa, including his past role as a rangatahi representative on the Te Arawa Partnership Board, which worked alongside the Rotorua Lakes Council to strengthen iwi-community relationships and ensure meaningful youth representation in local decision-making. He was a member of the Kāhui Māori Advisory Group for the Science for Technological Innovation National Science Challenge, where he contributed to embedding Vision Mātauranga and Te Ao Māori principles into national science and innovation strategies. He is a key leader within Ngā Rangatahi-a-Iwi (the youth wing of the Iwi Chairs Forum), and serves on Te Kāhui Raraunga, the Māori Data Governance Group, Te Wharetapere o Te Arawa, and Te Pākira Paepae.
An advocate for te reo Māori and a dedicated performer with Tūhourangi Ngāti Wāhiao Kapa Haka, Te Mauri’s passion for animation is driven by a commitment to create opportunities for rangatahi to express themselves through digital and creative mediums, ensuring Māori voices, values, and visual storytelling continue to thrive in the future.
