Hone McGregor

I come from a family that has long-standing beef and sheep farms across the North Island in Himatangi, Mangamaire, and Auhroa. Before joining AgResearch board I was the former Chair of Our Land & Water - Toitū te Whenua Toiora te Wai National Science Challenge and was on Cabinet’s National Research Priorities Panel for Aotearoa.

I have a background in conservation as the former CEO of the Royal Forest & Bird Protection Society and have chaired our whānau’s wetlands restoration trust Manawatū Kukutauaki Trust for 25 years.

I currently am Chair of Wakatū Incorporation and director of Kono LLP, which has lands across the top of the South Island (Te Tau Ihu) and is involved in horticulture, viticulture, regenerative land practices in their māra and leading indigenous organisms research using te ao Māori and Western science kaupapa.

I have a strong international background as consultant for the Asian Development Bank (ADB), a former CEO of an international consultancy for 12 years working across Asia, the Middle East and Pacific, and former Chair of Aotearoa’s Volunteer Service Abroad (VSA) Aotearoa’s international volunteer NGO. I chair MFAT’s Māori trade advisory group ‘Te Taumata’, and am a member of the World Economic Forum (WEF)’s Indigenous People’s Advisory Group.