Nicola Nation
Chief Executive Officer, Tumu Whakarae

Nicola is passionate about combining business models and positive impact to deliver social and environmental change. She holds a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Commerce and Administration from Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington.

Nicola has over 15 years experience in public and private sector consulting, including roles at MBIE, Kiwibank and Deloitte. She has held senior procurement roles in Aotearoa New Zealand and internationally; most recently at ACC and the World Bank.

Having been with Ākina since 2018, Nicola started as Tumu Whakarae in October 2021 and is proud to lead a talented and passionate Ākina team on a journey to create positive change in people’s lives and for our planet.

Aleksandra Nedeljkovic
Chief Operating Officer

Aleksandra is passionate about using the purpose-economy to solve complex social and environmental problems. With over a decade experience at a leadership level, Aleksandra brings expertise spanning the not-for-profit, social enterprise and commercial sectors, with a focus on building organisation stability and delivering impact outcomes through innovative, sustainable and ethical business practices.

She was previously Chief Operating Officer at award winning social enterprise not-for-profit The Social Studio, using a strengths-based approach to create opportunities for refugee communities, driving social inclusion and promoting diversity.

Rochelle Wallens
General Manager

Rochelle brings deep procurement experience from within both Government and the private sector. In previous roles she was a Senior Procurement Specialist with the Ministry of Education, and a procurement analyst with the New Zealand Racing Board.

Rochelle is a Victoria University Graduate having attained a Bachelor or Commerce, Accounting and Commercial Law alongside a graduate diploma in Professional Accounting.

Nick Douglas
Senior Impact Consultant

Nick brings a wide range of consulting skills and experiences to Ākina’s Impact Consulting service. His approach combines out-of-the-box thinking with proven approaches and methodologies, and he enjoys building trusted relationships with clients and supporting them on their journey to greater impact.

Nick has worked across the private, public, and charitable sectors in both NZ and the UK. From the contemporary art scene to industrial power stations, he is comfortable jumping into new problems and applying a structured and methodical approach to finding and delivering solutions.

Alongside this work, Nick was a founding member of SCOPE - a Wellington based social enterprise that connected young professionals with social service projects in their community.

Tan Huynh
Head of Partnerships and Senior Consultant, Investment

Tan’s varied background has taken him across startups, corporate and government in diverse sectors such as investment, technology, creative, economic development and education. He has raised the profile of innovative sectors to investors and successfully raised investments for impact enterprises. Tan also works with the Impact Investing Network to connect, educate and advocate for the growth of the impact investing sector in New Zealand

Tan's expertise is in growing the capability and scale of enterprises and sectors through strategic investment and economic development initiatives. He has delivered major projects across New Zealand, Australia, the US, the UK and Vietnam.

Hannah Gibbs-Harker
Capability Enabler

Motivated by a deep-seated desire to do good in the world, Hannah has spent the last decade working with and for charities and impact-driven businesses in Sydney, London and most recently on home soil in Aotearoa.

Hannah brings a breadth of experiences to Ākina, including business strategy and operations, fundraising and innovation. She started her career working as a Probation Officer, supporting people who had offended with their reintegration into the community.

A deep thinker, Hannah is a skilled facilitator who likes to understand the ‘why’, and to pursue simple and insightful ways to solve problems and amplify impact.

Hannah holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Sociology. When she’s not at Ākina, Hannah is busy with her other job - raising two wild and wonderful humans.

Lei Gu
Impact Consultant

Lei loves walking alongside others to understand and shift systems - through breaking down structural barriers for communities to thrive and holding space to experiment what’s possible. 

Having grown up in China and moved to Aotearoa, she is exploring her role as a migrant. She loves celebrating diversity, connecting with traditional wisdom, and finding ways to rebuild our relationships with the natural world.

Prior to joining Ākina, Lei worked as a business consultant at EY, predominantly in the health and Māori space. She also has experience in building a social enterprise and connecting young people with social innovation. Lei holds a Bachelor of Arts and Commerce in Sociology, Economics, and Statistics. 

Rebekah Dorman-Sickler
Marketing & Operations Administrator
Niue (Alofi, Hakupu), Pākehā, Māori (Maniapoto, Raukawa), Tonga

He uri ahau nō Niue, Raukawa, Maniapoto, Kōtirana, Aerana, Ingarangi me Tonga.
Ko Alofi me Hakupu ōku papakainga ki Niue ki te taha o tōku Koro.
Ko Dorman-Sickler tōku ingoa whānau,
Ko Rebekah toku ingoa.

Rebekah believes that her work experiences up to this point have fostered a real passion for social justice, equity, advocacy, and being a part of meaningful kaupapa.

Before joining the Ākina team, her roles varied from working in the Unite against COVID-19 social media team, to admin roles at an Open Source IT company and a craft beer brewery, and even managing a dog daycare. Rebekah uses creative problem solving to clear obstacles, and most importantly, how to think outside the box and make use of what you’ve got.

Rebekah was born in Aotearoa and is based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara. She is currently starting her Vagahau Niue journey to connect to her Niuean identity, and is also exploring her Māori whakapapa.

Tunisia Set Ārena LLB(Hons) BA AAMINZ
Associate, Impact Consulting
Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Whātua

Set works with organisations looking to face inequities head-on and collaborate with communities on ways to alleviate those.  Set’s moemoeā (vision) is to help build an Aotearoa where minorities and underprivileged communities can thrive, through innovative and inclusive practices (in business - and beyond).  

Set is a barrister and solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand, and holds a Bachelor of Laws with Honours and Bachelor of Arts in Māori studies and ancient history from the University of Auckland.  Formerly, Set was a Legal Advisor to Ākina, litigator in a large commercial law firm, and lecturer at the University of Auckland Law School, specialising in negotiation, mediation and dispute resolution.

James Dudfield
Associate, Impact Consulting

James support clients to clearly articulate purpose and align effort to deliver on improving the outcomes for the people they serve and the communities they operate in. He is experienced in creating value adding collaborations between business, government and social enterprises as well as delivering complex projects in a broad range of operating environments. He cares about equity. 

With 30 years of experience in the private, public and social sectors as an executive and consultant, James has developed expertise in strategy, marketing, sales, distribution, product, operations, compliance and change management. His consulting experience includes time with McKinsey & Company, Social Ventures Australia and SVT Group in the US.

Kristin Fanselow
Associate, Impact Consulting

Kristin is a dedicated impact professional, passionate about seeking ways to create transformational change. She supports organisations to create sustainable change by amplifying the voices that matter and providing innovative solutions to complex problems.

Kristin has experience in the non profit and public sectors, ranging from delivering capability building projects in Kenya and Cambodia, to social innovation within a kaupapa Māori organisation, to strategy in the public sector.

She loves learning, having completed two yoga teacher trainings and has just completed an MBA to further diversify her skills and perspective.

Roschelle Marshall
Associate, Capability Building

Roschelle is passionate about enabling businesses to deepen their impact and be a force for positive change in their communities.

With experience across the not-for-profit, education and corporate sectors, Roschelle has expertise in delivering social and environmental impact outcomes through innovative solutions.

West Auckland is home for Roschelle and loves being involved in her local community and is currently a Trustee for the Women’s Centre Waitakere.

Roschelle has a Bachelor of Business from AUT and has recently completed the Postgraduate Certificate in Leading Change for Good from The MindLab.

Rowan Yeoman
Associate, Impact Consulting

Rowan is a startup entrepreneur, investor and advisor having worked with numerous startup ventures in New Zealand and in the USA, both privately and through incubator and accelerator programmes. He also consults to large corporates to help them develop successful innovation processes.

Specialising in business model design and innovation, Rowan is excited about the potential to help social entrepreneurs create a new generation of successful and impactful ventures. In partnership with Ākina, Rowan has developed the Social Lean Canvas, a tool used globally to help social enterprises build sustainable and scalable business models.