Andre Matthews (Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa) is our General Manager Māori Operations.

Andre oversees four of our services including our two Māori-led services: Te Whare Hīnātore, our wāhine-only transitional service and He Ara Whakamana Tāngata, our new wairua-led pilot programme which supports the wellbeing of our tenants in HomeGround and Te Ao Mārama, as well as our Front of House team at HomeGround and our community dining room, Haeata.

“Our Front of House team, we’re the waharoa, we are the first people you will see when you come into HomeGround. We also feed our street whānau right across the laneway in Haeata. My job is oversight of all the risk that happens across the services, making sure we have a safe place to work, and also oversight of our budgets.”

Andre joined us in 2023 as Operations Manager Māori and when the opportunity came about to move into a Senior Leadership role, he took it. “Careerwise, I used to be front facing but as my career’s progressed, I’ve like being able to be make a difference from a different level, to have a bigger impact across more people rather than just the individual.”

“Sitting at the Senior Leadership level means I have more oversight of what’s going on across the organisation and how we integrate, or not, with other services. And now, it’s the same thing, having Māori in my title brings a different type of expectation, which makes me nervous but also excites me as well.”

“One of the main things that drew me to work at the Mission was its support for Māori and one of the big things was Manurau, our Senior Māori Caucus, that there’s a place for the Māori voice to be heard across the organisation and it’s not just coming from one person.”

Outside of mahi, Andre loves doing Crossfit, he rides motorbikes in the weekend which he says is his getaway from the world, and he loves all sports. When asked what is something about him that people might be surprised by: “I first went to school in Papua New Guinea, and I slept through an earthquake that was 7 or so on the Richter scale.”