Dan Te Whenua Walker’s life has been an amazing journey. In a recent interview with David Letele (the Brown Butterbean), he was described as a ‘dropout’. Yet this is the same Dan Walker who graduated with a Masters in Māori and Indigenous Leadership from Canterbury University in 2024, and has recently returned from studying at Stanford University. This is the same Dan Walker who was named Māori Entrepreneur of the Year and won the top award at the Robert Walters Leadership Awards earlier this year.
Challenging times
Dan was a student at Linwood from 1992 to 1997. He struggled with school: it was not really his thing. He was unsure not just about the direction he saw his life taking, but who he was as a person. There was the Māori heritage from his mother, which he was yet to explore, and the Scots/English heritage from his Dad’s side. Dan’s life was somewhere in between. In the interview with Letele, he described it as ‘the half caste vibe, the imposter syndrome – a sense of not belonging’. He was ‘not white enough for the white kids and not brown enough for the brown kids’. Dan enjoyed the social scene – and ironically, this was perhaps the school’s greatest contribution to Dan’s future. It was at Linwood that he began a relationship with the love of his life, Michelle. Dan left Linwood with sufficient grades to go to University but found academia not to his taste. The workplace beckoned.
From Dick Smith to Microsoft
The only time I have seen Dan since he left school was when he was working in retail at Dick Smith Electronics in Colombo Street. He was really starting from the bottom, yet clearly it was an area in which he was interested and developed a real expertise. Dan’s previously hidden intellectual ability and his exceptional people skills were soon recognised, and at the age of 20, he was a store manager. Dan’s next step was to develop his understanding of the business environment by completing a Diploma in Business Management. In 2004 he was appointed South Island Manager of Flexigroup, a company specialising in developing financial products designed to meet the needs of national retail networks. Dan’s success with Flexigroup led to a move to Auckland and a return to Dick Smith Electronics as National Commercial Manager. Over the following ten years, Dan held national positions with Noel Leeming Group, Samsung Electronics and Dell Technologies. Dan’s team building skills, his entrepreneurial ability and strategic vision had a significant impact on all the companies he worked for. In 2019 Dan joined Microsoft as Senior Cloud Solutions Lead. He went on to become the Senior Partner and Development Manager for Australia and New Zealand, with responsibility for a US$500 million portfolio across Australia and New Zealand.
Dan not only brought his intellectual, personal, and entrepreneurial skills to Microsoft. He also brought his growing cultural awareness and his determination to have Microsoft recognise the needs of different Indigenous groups often ignored by the business community and multi-nationals in particular. How IT can be used for Māori and Pasifika economic development became a particular passion for him. In addition to his other roles at Microsoft, Dan is the Founder and Co-Chair of Indigenous at Microsoft International.
A complex learning journey
So how did Dan get from being a Linwood ‘dropout’ to a high-performing entrepreneur with a top international company? It began with a special moment at the bedside of his beloved Nana to whom he made a promise: ‘I will make you proud’. It grew and blossomed as he explored his Māori side, delving first into his whakapapa. Dan discovered a 600-year-old whakatauki from Turi, his direct ancestor, which said that ‘I will never be lost in this world, for I am a seed cast forth from Rangiatea’. This message and Dan’s immersion in the taha Māori world secured for him his sense of identity and made him think about what he could do to influence the lives of current and future generations of Māori in Aotearoa and other indigenous communities around the world.
So, with the encouragement of his employers and his whānau, the ‘dropout‘ returned to tertiary study – at post graduate level, enrolling in an MBA at Auckland University. It was tough going at times but there were also some A grades. Dan graduated with his Executive MBA in 2011, and followed that up with a Masters in Advanced Leadership from Massey in 2017. He is currently working on an FTE Executive Masters through Stanford University.
However, Dan’s academic courses were not confined to Business studies. He was also determined to continue to explore his Māori side. In 2015 he graduated with a Diploma in Te Reo Māori from Northtec and in 2024 obtained his Masters in Māori and Indigenous Leadership from the University of Canterbury. He is currently working on a PhD in Kaupapa Māori AI Innovation through the Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi.
Giving back – shaping the present and the future
Dan’s adult life epitomises his ancestor’s whakatauki, the promise he made to his Nana, and his drive to enhance the well-being of, especially, Māori and Pasifika communities. He was Deputy Chairperson of Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Ruanui, a body whose goal is to foster the well-being, and aspirations of iwi members. Currently, Dan is on the Board of the Ringa Hora Workforce Development Council, which provides governance oversight to strengthen vocational education and training across service industries in Aotearoa. He is an Independent Director of Tātaki Auckland Unlimited, a body whose purpose is to enhance the cultural and economic vibrancy of Tāmaki Makaurau, and is Deputy Chairman of NZ Māori Tourism, whose purpose is to grow the Māori Tourism sector, and ensure Māori leadership and storytelling remain an important part of the Aotearoa visitor experience. Over a four-year period, Dan held two ministerial appointments. For MBIE, he was an expert panel member advising on the use of a $60 million investment programme to help the tourism sector recover from Covid-19. In an initiative that was close to his heart, he was co-lead and author of Maranga Ake, a report calling for action to secure the place of Māori in the workplace of the future.
Dan’s life has been full of challenges. For him, these are opportunities to be embraced – leading to personal growth and the chance to benefit the wider community. In the interview with David Letele, Dan said that to become stronger and be effective, ‘you need to hongi the taniwha, acknowledge the pieces of you that you want to hide away’. There is one other governance role he has embraced, a role that grew out of the biggest challenge the Walker whānau has faced, when eldest son Joshie was diagnosed with an osteosarcoma. The road to recovery was arduous. It was, as Dan said, the toughest time of his life. Always wanting to make a difference and give back to the community, it stirred in Dan the desire to use his expertise to support families who were undergoing a similar experience. Dan is currently Chair of the Child Cancer Foundation, a position he has held since 2021.
Dan’s journey is truly an inspirational one. Linwood/Te Aratai is honoured to have him as one of its alumni.