Dr. Jim Mather

Dr Jim Mather is of Ngāti Awa, Ngāi Tūhoe and English descent. He grew up in the communities of Te Teko, Ōtara and Māngere.

In 2018, he completed his final Chief Executive role with Te Wānanga o Aotearoa (New Zealand’s second largest tertiary institution) after a 5-year term. This followed a 9-year tenure as Chief Executive of Māori Television, and prior to that he was Chief Executive of the Pacific Business Trust for almost 3 years.

Since 2018 Jim Mather has been a professional director and the founder of a specialist Māori development consultancy (Mather Solutions Limited).

He holds a Masters of Business Administration from the Henley Business School in England and a Bachelor of Business Studies (Accounting). He also completed a PhD in Māori economic development through AUT University in 2014. He is a Chartered Accountant and a Chartered Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Directors.

Aligned with his commercial background, Jim Mather is also a former officer in the New Zealand Army, and was awarded the Sword of Honour in recognition of his distinguished achievements in Officer training.

He currently holds governance roles with the following organisations:

• Chair of Radio New Zealand

• Chair of Ngāti Awa Group Holdings Limited

• Interim Chair of Tonkin +Taylor

• Independent Director of Southbase Construction Limited

Jim Mather is passionate about public and indigenous media and in 2008 was the inaugural Chair of the World Indigenous Television Broadcasters Network. He has subsequently been Chair of RNZ (Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa) since 2018.