Prominent Māori businesswoman Ingrid Collins has given five decades of service to Māori, business and health governance.
Now Collins (Ngāti Porou) is one of New Zealand’s newest dames, announced in this year’s New Year Honours.
Collins has contributed 50 years of governance to Whangara B5 Incorporation and was named a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2008 for her services to Māori.
She has been chairperson of the Whangara Farms partnership since its inception in 2006.
Whangara Farms is a partnership between three Māori land incorporations united by their shared whakapapa to Ngāti Konohi and Ngāti Porou. It prides itself on delivering a range of benefits to its owners and community.
The partnership is regarded as an “exemplar of best practice, sustainability and innovation for Māori land development”, according to notes issued with her latest honour.
Collins has also represented Māori land matters in international forums, including the United Nations Indigenous Forum, and through Whangara being the first New Zealand beef farm to join McDonald’s flagship farmers’ scheme in 2018.
She was a member of the AgResearch Māori Advisory Committee from 2013-19 and was appointed to the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee from 2013-15.
Collins also had a career in health governance across a range of roles, including as chief executive and owner of Three Rivers Medical from 2005-22, and nine years as chairperson of Tairawhiti District Health Board until 2011.
She is presently a trustee of Tairawhiti Whenua Charitable Trust, Matai Medical Research Institute, Ngā Taonga ā Ngā Tama Toa Trust since 2008, has been a trustee of Chelsea Private Hospital since 1999, and was awarded Ahuwhenua Māori Farm of the Year for Sheep and Beef for Whangara Farms in 2009 .
Collins was also a trustee from 2014 for the building and opening of 28 Māori Battalion C Company Memorial Trust House.
- Stuff
