Accounting for 20 years

​A life’s interest in numbers has seen Tūranga Health’s corporate services manager Lisa Tamatea clock up over 20 years with the Māori health provider.

“I do sometimes wonder if this my last financial report but at Tūranga Health there’s always something new on, something exciting, and I’m drawn in again.”

Lisa has always loved number crunching. From her childhood days playing “shops” in Matawai to overseeing Tūranga Health’s $5 million budget, Lisa gets enormous satisfaction from accounting analysis and financial management.

Her background is in book keeping. She was an accounts clerk In the Royal New Zealand Airforce and started a similar job for the Vanessa Lowndes Centre in 1997.

Not long after, the centre was taken under the wing of Tūranga Health which was slowly building in size and scope under the guidance of Reweti Ropiha.

Reweti and Tūranga Health chairman Pene Brown saw potential in Lisa and encouraged her to do tertiary study. After a lot of hard work and lack of sleep Lisa has since earned a diploma in business management, a degree in business with majors in accounting and management, and raised two children with husband Dwayne Tamatea.

Pene has regular meetings with Lisa and has always admired her skills. “Her analytical ability combined with her interpersonal skills stand out…and she’s a really good person as well.”

Outside of work Lisa often throws herself into demanding physical challenges. As well as multi-day running and cycling relay events she’s completed the Oxfam Trail 100km walk and the Spirited Women adventure race.

“Tūranga Health has a long history of walking the talk when it comes to physical fitness,” explains Lisa, who mostly does the events with colleagues.
She and Shirley Keown (who’s also knocked up 20 years at Tūranga Health) have been to some dark places during long arduous physical challenges, but it’s been worth it, she says.

“It’s made us stronger and actually, it’s part of what I love about Tūranga Health. We’re given space to grow whether it’s in the events we do or in our professional development.”

​“I’m really proud of where I work. When the company was young I don’t think we used to celebrate that enough but now, Tūranga Health is an organisation the district can be very proud of.” 

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