Award winners
Congratulations to the recipients of our 2026 Emerging Director, Aspiring Māori Director, and First Steps in Governance Awards.
2026 Aspiring Māori Director Award
Tana Luke MInstD
Tana Luke (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Rārua, Ngāti Toa, Te Rarawa) is an emerging governance leader with a strong commitment to serving iwi, hapū and communities across Aotearoa.
Tana is deliberate in the kaupapa and organisations he chooses to serve, guided by a genuine connection to their purpose and the people they represent. He sees governance as an extension of his commitment to service, providing another avenue to contribute to kaupapa he would be involved in regardless of whether he held a governance position.
His approach to leadership and governance has been shaped by the examples of service he was fortunate to witness throughout his upbringing and early career, particularly within his whānau and iwi. Seeing kaumātua dedicate significant parts of their lives to the advancement of their people and the kaupapa they believed in has left a lasting impression on Tana, reinforcing his belief that leadership is grounded in service, responsibility and a commitment to future generations.
Tana currently serves as a trustee of Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Rārua and the Ngāti Rārua Ātiawa Iwi Trust (Whakarewa), and as a board member of St Thomas of Canterbury College. His governance experience also includes serving as an Emerging Director with Canterbury Rugby.
Alongside his governance roles, Tana has contributed to several advisory groups, including previously serving on the Strategic Advisory Board of Bio-Protection Aotearoa. More recently, he joined Fire and Emergency New Zealand’s External Māori Advisory Rōpū, providing advice to its executive leadership.
Professionally, Tana is Pou Hononga, Iwi & Community Relationship Manager at Meridian Energy, where he works to strengthen relationships with mana whenua, iwi and communities.
For Tana, governance is not simply about holding a seat at the table, but the contribution made while sitting there. His greatest motivation and sense of purpose come from his two daughters, Aewa and Amo, who inspire him to continue serving the people and communities he cares deeply about. Just as he was fortunate to grow up surrounded by examples of selfless service, he hopes to contribute to a legacy that his daughters and future generations can be proud of, honouring those who came before while helping create opportunities for those yet to come.
Tana will serve an internship on the board of Presbyterian Support (Upper South Island), chaired by Andrew Johnston MInstD and Sharyn Roberts MInstD, and will be mentored by Joseph Tyro MInstD.
2026 Emerging Director Awards
Nathan Beaumont MInstD
Nathan started out as a roofer in Timaru before trading the hammer for a career that has seen him test reputations as a journalist, protect them for Cabinet Ministers and build them for one of New Zealand's largest listed companies.
He reckons the roofing was useful training: most reputational damage, like most leaks, starts small and gets worse when it's ignored.
Today, he is Managing Director of The Reputation Hub, working with boards, chief executives and senior leaders on building and protecting reputation.
He spent more than a decade at Chorus, working across media, stakeholder and government relations before becoming Head of Corporate Affairs, where he was the primary adviser to the CEO and Board on reputation. His time at Chorus spanned the ultra-fast broadband rollout, one of the largest infrastructure projects in New Zealand's history.
That career has also shown him how easily reputational risk slips down the agenda when nobody at the table is looking for it and how lasting the consequences can be. It's a big part of why governance has moved from being the context he works in to a discipline he wants to practise directly. He currently serves on two Canterbury school boards.
Nathan is honoured to receive the Emerging Director Award, not least as someone who left school without any qualifications. He hopes his path shows others in the same position that there's more than one way to build a career.
Nathan will serve an internship on the board of Ashburton Contracting Ltd, chaired by Alister Lilley, and will be mentored by Brian Wood DistFInstD.
Jeremy Hanna CMInstD
Jeremy is a Chartered Member of the Institute of Directors, and Chief Operating Officer of Business Canterbury. Jeremy leads a team delivering business support services to more than 2,800 member businesses across the region. He brings a commercial operator's lens to governance, drawn from a career spanning leadership across the private, public and not-for-profit sectors.
Governance roles currently held include Non-Executive Director of Canterbury Regional Business Partners Limited, a Business Canterbury and ChristchurchNZ joint venture delivering business support services, and as a Board Trustee of English Language Partners, where he sits on the Finance & Audit Committee. He also brings governance experience across commercial property, and retail.
Jeremy is drawn to the challenge of finding opportunity inside organisational risk, and to helping complex, multi-stakeholder organisations build financial sustainability. He completed the Company Directors' Course in 2024 and is looking forward to deepening his governance capability through the Emerging Director Award.
Jeremy will serve an internship on the board of Canterbury Scientific Ltd, chaired by John Barr CFInstD, and will be mentored by Abby Foote CFInstD.
2026 First Steps in Governance Awards
To be announced soon