Michael Joseph (Mike) Stevens

He was born in Stratford and grew up in Taupo. He was educated at Tauponui-a-Tia College in Taupo and at the University of Otago where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Social Anthropology in 1976. In 1976 he was President of the Otago University Māori Club and tutored in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Otago. He was Literary Editor of Critic, the Otago University student newspaper and was Otago representative for the Māori Artists and Writers’ Association. At the end of 1976, he moved to Australia for a couple of years and worked in a number of positions including lecturing at Darwin Community College in 1978. In 1979 he travelled to England and to South East and Central Asia. In August 1979 he taught history and social anthropology at the National College of Choueifat in Beirut, Lebanon, and in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. During the second half of 1980, he travelled through Britain and the United States and returned to New Zealand. From 1981-84 he worked as a clerk in the Māori Trust Office in Whangarei and from April 1984 to April 1986 became Regional Manager of the Māori Trust Office in Wellington. In 1986 Stevens was appointed Senior Executive Officer of Māori Land Development in the Department of Māori Affairs Head Office in Wellington and in September began working as Project Analyst for DFC New Zealand Limited on secondment from the Māori Trust Office. In August 1987 he became Account Manager for the Māori Development Corporation in Auckland and in December 1989 was seconded to the head office of the Māori Trust Office in Wellington. In February 1990 he was again seconded from the Māori Development Corporation and was appointed for two years to the head office of the Iwi Transition Agency which later became Te Puni Kokiri. In 1992 he became Portfolio Manager for Māori Asset Development at Te Puni Kokiri’s head office. Since August 1992 he has worked as Liaison Manager for Moana Pacific Fisheries Limited in Auckland, a position he still holds. Stevens has been a member of the Board of Directors of Raukawa Investments Limited and Raukawa Ventures Limited (subsidiary companies of Te Runanga o Raukawa). He was a director of Taihauauru Surf Claim Company Limited and of Moana Pacific Fisheries. He is a trustee of Ki Tua o Te Arai Charitable Trust and Te Tohu Taakaro o Aotearoa Charitable Trust. Stevens was appointed a member of the New Zealand Universities Academic Audit Unit in 1996 and was a member of Auckland Nautical School Industry Advisory Committee from He has been a member of the Auckland Institute of Technology Faculty of Te Ara Poutama Māori Development Advisory Committee. In 2003 he was appointed to the Governing Board of Nga Pae o te Maramatanga (the National Institute of Research Excellence for Māori Development and Advancement). His poetry has been published in Critic, Koru, Otago University Review, Pacific Moana Quarterly and other literary magazines. He has written government policy papers in Māori Affairs and research papers for the Waitangi Tribunal.

Biographical sources

• Correspondence and phone conversation with Stevens 19 Jan. 1993, 13 Feb. and 13 Aug. 1998, and 10 Sept. 2004.