Linnae (Ngāti Porou, Ngāi Tahu, Rongowhakaata, Ngai Tāmanuhiri and Te Aitanga-ā-Mahaki) has 14 years experience as a senior executive in the state and museum sectors. This includes leading Māori and Pacific strategy and development at Career Services, representing them during the development of the Government’s Māori Education Strategy Ka Hikitia Managing for Success (2008-2012). She was also the Tumuaki Director Māori and Pacific Development at Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum. There, Linnae was responsible for strategic Iwi Māori and Pacific partnerships and relationships, Māori and Pacific strategy, and human remains repatriation.
Linnae also has experience as Bicultural Policy Analyst at the National Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Policy Analyst at the Office of Treaty Settlements which included a period as Private Secretary to the then, Minister Responsible for Treaty Settlements, Hon Margaret Wilson, and as an Associate Clerk to the Māori Affairs Select Committee in New Zealand’s Parliament, after completing a Bachelor of Arts (Hon) in Māori Studies at Te Pūtahi ā Toi, Massey University.
Linnae’s voluntary life saw her working with her iwi, for over 20 years, as an oral history researcher, Trust Secretary and Trustee for the Ngā Taonga ā Ngā Tama Toa C Company, 28 Māori Battalion Trust. Linnae lives in Tāmaki Makaurau with her partner, Julian, and their 9-year old son Tamati who is a graduate of Te Kohanga Reo and current learner in one of Auckland’s oldest Māori Language Immersion units, Whanau Ata, at Freeman’s Bay Primary School.
