Te Kūmiti
Click on the images below to find out more about the Committee, their backgrounds, their work and their hopes for the work of the Association during their term.
Dr Debi Futter-Puati
Dr Debi Futter-Puati is the President of Te Vairanga Kite Pakari and is the current Director of the University of South Pacific Cook Islands campus in Rarotonga. Debi spent most of her childhood growing up in Wellington and has lived in the Cook Islands since January 2003 with her Cook Islands family. She completed her PhD in 2017 at RMIT University (Melbourne) where she investigated sex, sexuality and sexuality education in the Cook Islands.
Vaine Iriano Wichman
Vaine Iriano Wichman (nee Rasmussen) is of Ngati Tamakeu and Ngati Te Tika (Teimurimotia), and kopu tangata Isaia (Tongareva). She has held numerous governance roles in the Cook Islands including President of the Cook Islands National Council of Women, Director of Policy for CIP, and the Director for both Cook Islands Building Supplies Ltd and Arama & Associates Ltd. Vaine is the Vice-President of Te Vairanga Kite Pakari.
James Uri-Puati
James Uri-Puati is a Cook Islander with genealogical links to Ta‘iti and ‘Āmoa. He has over 32 years experience as an educator and has completed numerous consultancy projects in local, regional and international contexts. He is currently a teacher contractor and a facilitator and manager for international volunteers in the Cook Islands. James is our Treasurer.
Emma Powell
Emma Emily Ngakuraevaru Powell has genealogical affiliations to Atiu through her mother and to Mangaia through her father. She is currently a doctoral student in Pacific Studies at Victoria University of Wellington but has spent the better part of the last two years completing her project in the Cook Islands. She is one of the current Secretaries of the Association.
Dr Jim Gosselin
Dr Jim Gosselin was born in Canada and has resided in the Cook Islands for many years having worked in various senior Government positions for every Premier/Prime Minister since Albert Henry. He has also worked for the Commonwealth Secretariat, the UNDP, the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community.
Jean Mason
Jean Tekura Mason has been the Curator and Manager of the Cook Islands Library & Museum for over a decade. A poet, writer and historian, Jean has published widely on the culture and history of the Cook Islands and is well-regarded as a local knowledge holder.
Dr Tina Newport
Tina has connections to Ngati Tamakeu and Ngati Te Tika (Rarotonga), Aitutaki and Mangaia through her mother. She has past experience in Social Work, and completed a Masters degree before working on the New Zealand Aid Programme in Rarotonga from 2004. Amongst many other things, Tina now runs a small consulting company (Akairo Consulting) and is a postdoctoral fellow in Pacific Studies at the University of Auckland.
Dr Teina Rongo
Teina obtained his Ph.D. in Marine Biology from the Florida Institute of Technology, becoming the first Cook Islander to achieve a Ph.D. in this field of study. His area of research focuses on coral reef ecology, ciguatera poisoning, and climate change. Teina has conducted coral reef research in Micronesia, the Caribbean, across the Central Pacific and throughout the Cook Islands. He is well-known for his work as the Chairperson of the Cook Islands NGO, Kōrero o te ‘Ōrau.
Dr Nanise Young Okotai
Nanise completed a PhD in Anthropology at the University of Hawai‘i in 2020. Her work looked at the implications of World Heritage as development on Ovalau Island (Fiji). Nanise has lived in Rarotonga for 7 years with her family. She has connections to the Wausomo clan and Lomani Koro, Lovoni on Ovalau Island in Fiji through her mother, and to America, through her father.