Meet Stu, Chair Maori & Pasifika Trades Training Board

Stuart Lawrence, ko Uenuku te Iwi, is Director – Programme Kaitautoko at Whatukura Ltd, a boutique consultancy firm where he has led a number of workforce development, pastoral care and community projects focusing on Māori and Pasifika development.

He previously spent 13 years as National Manager – Māori for The Skills Organisation Industry Training Organisation. Stuart is the current Chair of the Māori and Pasifika Trades Training Board (MPTT) and has been involved with them for more than a decade through his previous role at Skills, where he worked to increase Māori participation and success across the organisation.

The Māori and Pasifika Trades Training Auckland is a group of training and industry organisations working together to help Māori and Pasifika become leaders in the trades. With partnerships throughout the industry, they combine trades training with mentoring and financial support and connect trainees with employers to take them right into the heart of their chosen trade.

Passionate about advancing education, employment and enterprise for Māori and Pasifika, Stuart wants to use his role to better inform whānau about the trades. Stuart Lawrence, through Waikato Tainui, assisted with the establishment of an iwi le d Careers Centre based in Hamilton and the Waikato-Tainui Te Waharoa Programme, a partnership between BCITO and Waikato Tainui, that prepares young uri Waikato for the real world of trade mahi, while wrapping the best support around them.