The Tauranga Moana Regional Talent forum brought together an energised mix of educators, employers, changemakers, and community leaders, all leaning into one shared goal: building a future of work that is people focused.

The afternoons korero was kicked off with Mignon Green from MomentumIQ on high-performance hiring in the AI era. Panic or progress – Mignon set the bar high with provocations on AI-empowerment, foundational people architecture and upskilling accountability for the individual and organisation. A memorable and energetic keynote, she left us with a mic drop moment, “If you have always done it that way, it is probably wrong.”

From there, we explored our core themes: pathways, participation, productivity, and place. Rob Field from Tauranga City Council took the audience through the Tauranga Moana Futures program, which has grown to set the standard for internships and work integrated learning opportunities. Moving into the Talent pipeline panel session, we heard from Lee Martin on the Work Integrated Learning Program at the University of Waikato, Midu Chandra from Seen Ventures on opportunities for AI upskilling for youth and career transitions, and were left both inspired and accountable by input from Micah Jennings from Tauranga Boys’ College and Priority One Instep Young Leader who captured the essence and energy of the future we are designing for.

Moving into our pane on participation and supporting diversity in the workforce, we heard from Katie Hungerford (Mercury NZ) and Awhina Ngātuere (Toi Kai Rawa) who grounded us in kaupapa Māori approaches to capability and enablement, Fainu’ulelei Aifa’i Esera (Pacific Growth Services) who spoke from the heart on the importance of culturally responsive pathways, and Suki  Xiao (As You) who wrapped the panel with some hard hitting truths on diversity, representation and female leadership.

David Altena (Smartspace.AI) challenged the concept of productivity in New Zealand, urging a fundamental shift from a product-based export economy to a knowledge-based export economy. Davids vision for Tauranga to be the capital of scaled innovation and knowledge export was a powerful segway into Ray Everest, who is doing exactly that. The co-founder of Future Focus, Ray exemplifies this concept in action – with people at the heart. Ray’s journey has taken him from building bricks and mortar child-care centres to his new venture Auro, an AI-enabled early intervention and employee enablement platform. Scalable and smart, and all without a laptop. 

We ended the day with a short workshop, designed to challenge and stimulate conversation on how we attract and retain talent. Special shout out to Kylie Smallman (Ngāti Pūkenga Iwi ki Tauranga), Jessica Bevin (Mercury / Priority One Young Professionals) and Haydn Marriner (Tourism Bay of Plenty) for offering their time, humour and support for the last session.

This wrap up doesn’t remotely capture the afternoon. It wasn’t a single quote or takeaway. It was the sense of alignment. Across sectors and roles, there was a shared recognition that the way we attract, grow, and retain talent is evolving and adaptation is critical.

What emerged was a hopeful, grounded vision.

Priority One would sincerely like to thank the presenters, panellists and supporters of this event. Your time, consideration and mana that you bought to the day have left a lasting impression.