Gabrielle Huria
Gabrielle Ann Huria is a New Zealand Māori leader working in freshwater management and mental health. In 2018 Huria was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Māori and governance.
Early life and education
Huria was born in Christchurch in 1962. She is Māori and affiliates to Ngāi Tahu. Huria attended Our Lady of the Assumption school in Hoon Hay in Christchurch, and the St Vincent de Paul School and Erskine College in Wellington. She has qualifications in journalism and television production from Waiariki Polytechnic and Christchurch Polytechnic. Huria completed a Bachelor of Arts in sociology at the University of Canterbury.Career
Huria worked in television as a journalist, researcher and scriptwriter, and then as a producer for television and radio. Huria spent five years as a producer for the children's radio show Ears, and has published two children's books. Huria worked in public relations, and was public affairs manager for Te Runanga o Ngāi Tahu, before becoming chief executive and chair of Ngāi Tahu Communications. Huria was responsible for the communications strategy for Ngāi Tahu during their treaty negotiations and during the post-settlement period, and created and edited a magazine Te Karaka.Huria has also been a member of the Ngāi Tahu Research Centre Advisory Board.
Huria was Deputy Chair of the Canterbury District Health Board, and chief executive of Te Kura Taka Pini, a Ngāi Tahu company working in South Island freshwater management. She was a trustee of the Māia Health Foundation, which works in mental health. In 2014 Huria was appointed as the inaugural chair of Emerge Aotearoa, a provider of mental health services for Māori and Pacific people.