BOARD MEMBERS

  • John Gandy

    CHAIRPERSON

    John is a Litigation Director at Thomas and Co Lawyers, specializing in Litigation and Relationship Property matter. As well as board member for Tautai, he is on the executive committee of the Pacific Lawyers Association.

  • William Somerville

    William Somerville

    BOARD MEMBER

    William is a sixth generation resident of Aotearoa, a qualified lawyer and accountant, and a retired partner of PWC. William has had a long involvement in the visual arts and governance and has worked as a litigator and in the film industry. He was one of the founders of Artspace and a board member of the New Zealand Film Commission, Objectspace and other trusts.

    He has a deep interest in the Pacific and was a long term board member of The Melanesian Trust. His governance experience includes chairing the Auckland City Mission and Artspace.

  • Dr Leon Tan

    BOARD MEMBER

    Leon Tan (PhD) is a creative practitioner, educator and psychotherapist whose research focusses on cultural expression and the public realm. Co-Editor-in-Chief of Public Art Dialogue (Taylor & Francis, USA) and Associate Professor of Design and Contemporary Arts at Unitec Te Pūkenga, Leon published The Routledge Companion to Art in the Public Realm in 2020 and has presented public and participatory projects in venues including Momentum the Nordic Biennial of Contemporary Art (2017) and the Taipei Biennial (2012).

  • Galuvao Paul J Pa'u (LL M, BA)

    BOARD MEMBER

    Paul was born in Samoa and is fluent in English and Samoan. He has over 25 years of experience appearing in the Employment Court, Employment Relations Authority and the Mediation Service for employers and employees. He is particularly interested in working with schools and specialises in advising Boards of Trustees, school Principals and Early Childhood Centres. In 2022, Paul taught the elective paper, South Pacific Legal Systems, at the Faculty of Law, University of Auckland, and was nominated for a teaching award. He is currently undertaking a PhD in Law at the University of Auckland, on Samoa's Constitution and the protection of the FaaSamoa, through a Legal Realist lens. 

  • Paul Lisi

    BOARD MEMBER

    Paul is an artist with 20 years’ experience within the arts industry here in Aotearoa and internationally, with a career that has included producing, directing, singing, dancing and acting, both on stage and on screen. After completing a Diploma in Pacific Performing Arts at the Pacific Institute of Performing Arts (PIPA) he has been involved in multiple theatre, dance, musicals and corporate gigs across Aotearoa, Australia and the UK. He also has extensive experience in the media and communications sectors, as well as a strong background in funding, having worked for the NZ Film Commission and Creative New Zealand. Paul was also one of the first successful recipients of Tautai’s Oceania Internship Programme in 2014.