Mat Arcus joined the Board in November 2022 and brings a strong connection to local sport and business. A Chartered Accountant, Mat is the current Director of Huddle Advisory, leading a small team of industry-leading financial experts, advisers, and forward-thinking strategists. Mat has had a long involvement in sport, particularly rugby union at all levels including school and junior and senior club with Havelock North Rugby Club where he is the current manager of the Premier side. His active family are involved in a wide range of sporting opportunities throughout the region with his sons playing representative canoe polo. 

Mat was elected Chair of Sport Hawke's Bay in November 2025.

Lisa Pohatu joined the Board in November 2021, which complements her professional background in public health and as a consultant for Kahui Tautoko Consultancy, which specialises in indigenous community development in health, education, sports and physical wellbeing in New Zealand and Canada. Lisa believes that physical activity has such an important role in our health and wellbeing and is looking to support Sport Hawke’s Bay to create more opportunities for people to be active.

Heidi Beech joined the Board in 2020, is a chartered accountant and has been involved in sport administration for much of her career with financial management roles with New Zealand Rugby Union in Wellington and Eden Park Trust in Auckland. Heidi was also recently the Governance and Projects Manager for Unity Credit Union.  

Heidi is the Chair of the Sport Hawke's Bay Audit, Finance and Risk Committee.

Dionne Thomas joined the Board in 2018 and brings a strong background in education and sport. Having trained as a Physical Education teacher at Otago University, Dionne is currently  Principal at Karamu High School.  She is an inaugural member of the Hawkes Bay Netball Board, and other board representations include Clifton Reserve Society and Clifton Marine Club. She is still actively involved with netball as a player and officiator and hockey as a spectator mum/wife. 

​​​​​​​Dionne is also Chair of the Hawke's Bay Secondary School Management Committee.

Rawinia Lewis joined the Board in November 2022.  Rawinia has an extensive background in health and social development, having held senior policy and management roles in the public sector.  Rawinia currently works for the commercial board of Ngāti Kahungunu looking after their interests in farming, fishing, forestry and property. She is actively involved in netball as a player and is a trained yoga teacher.  Reflecting the Te Whare Tapa Wha model, Rawinia appreciates the positive benefits sports and physical activity can have on many aspects of a young person’s life - particularly young wahine - having two daughters aged 12 and 14 who are involved in multiple sports. 

Tania Karauria joined the Board in November 2021 and brings a strong connection to the education and sport sector. Tania returned to Hawke’s Bay after 20 years in Auckland and is excited about making a positive contribution to the sport and recreation sector both as a new Sport Hawke’s Bay trustee, and to community and performance sport. Tania wants to use her experience and involvement in sport to be able to support existing and new opportunities for people across Hawke’s Bay to improve health and wellbeing outcomes for themselves and their whānau.

Lisa is also a member of the Sport Hawke's Bay Audit, Finance and Risk Committee.

Chris Petersen joined the board in November 2022, bringing a strong background in Marketing and Communications. Chris recently returned home to Hawkes Bay after 18 years away, working for a number of large global packaged goods companies and is currently the innovation and Sales Manager for Greenmount Foods. With a young family, Chris is excited about being a part of Sport Hawke's Bay as he hopes physical recreation and sports are as much a part of his children's lives as it was for him growing up.

Prue Younger was CEO of FICA (Forest Industry Contractors Association) and the owner/director of Public Impressions, a Hawke’s Bay based marketing and communications agency. A former CEO of Eastland Wood Council, Prue has also been a trustee for the Hawke’s Bay Community Fitness Trust and served on several boards including NZCT Regional Advisory Group (Chair), Sport Gisborne Tairāwhiti (Chair), and Connext Trust (Chair) and the Fencing Contractors Association. Prue brings seasoned experience in starting, growing, and developing a business, as well as governance and relationship building capability. Prue joined the Board in April 2024.

TBC

TBC