Tia Ashby
TE RARAWA, TE AUPOURI, NGĀPUHI, RAROTONGA, TE ATI AWA, AND NGĀTI MUTUNGA
Tia Ashby is a highly accomplished professional with an impressive health, business management, defence, governance, and IT background. She is of Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi, Te Aupouri, Rarotonga and Te Ati Awa descent.
She has completed an Executive Master of Business from Te Kunenga Ki Pūehuroa Massey University, a Bachelor of Health Science RN and a Diploma in Military Medicine. In addition, Tia has also completed an Executive Program on Value-Based Healthcare from the Harvard Business School, She developed her thesis at Harvard University that focused on empowering Māori to access primary healthcare using mobile technology.
Tia Ashby is driven by her passion for improving health outcomes and using her medical training and skills to help Māori, also addressing the social determinants of health to enable whanau to flourish. She is a go-getter, creative, and a problem solver and has successfully delivered on multiple complex regional, national, and international projects. From a young age, Tia knew she wanted to support others, which led her to serve as a Royal New Zealand Navy Medic for 12 years.
Tia is also a patron of the Defence Health School in Burnham's ‘Ashby Class 2023’ and a well-decorated New Zealand Defence Force veteran. She has also been honoured with numerous awards, including the Defence Service Medal, Unblemished and GC Award (Royal NZ Navy) and the NATO and New Zealand General Service Medal (Afghanistan).
During the response to COVID-19, she led a team that provided medical, emergency housing, social support, COVID tests and access to timely information so families could make an informed decision to receive vaccinations for Māori in the Northland area. The main challenges faced by Māori in the region were access to services and a distrust of government information. Tia and her team's efforts resulted in an impressive 82% vaccination rate among the 50,488 Māori living in Northland.
Tia believes that her experience as a medic in the Navy was crucial to her success in leading the COVID-19 response for her Northland iwi. She sees both roles as fighting a battle to ensure whanau have equitable access to services and that the real work occurs on the frontline. After returning from Afghanistan in 2010, she left the navy to utilise the knowledge and skills she had acquired and apply them to make real health gains for whanau Māori in Te Tai Tokerau.
Currently, Tia serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Te Hau Ora O Ngāpuhi, where she works to protect and support underserved populations. Te Hau Ora O Ngāpuhi leads the health strategy for Ngapuhi, serving whānau, hapū, and communities living within Te Whare Tapu O Ngāpuhi, whether Māori or non-Māori.
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How a former navy medic turned her experience into incredible health outcomes for Māori in Northland