Kristen Kohere-Soutar
Delegate
Kristen Kohere-Soutar is a New Zealand professional director and Māori business leader whose career spans global investment, iwi enterprise, banking, international trade and Indigenous intellectual property.
She is executive chair of Te Pītau Limited, leading the Mānuka Charitable Trust’s international work across intellectual property, science, Indigenous knowledge and markets.
Kristen was formerly chair of Mercer New Zealand, director and Audit & Risk chair of Ngāi Tahu Holdings, director of Ngāti Porou Holdings and chair of Whai Rawa Funds.
A trustee of Māori land on the East Coast, Kristen has a particular interest in the economic potential of Ngāti Porou’s substantial intergenerational land base—around 45 percent of its rohe is collectively held by Ngāti Porou interests—and what becomes possible through greater scale, collaboration, capital and value-chain development.
Her wider work explores how Indigenous asset owners can retain distinctiveness while building resilient, globally connected economies across generations.