Alison Green (Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Ranginui) is a mother, a grandmother, and a professor in the School of Indigenous Graduate Studies, Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi. She holds a PhD in Māori and Pacific Development. In 2019, Alison was awarded the inaugural Misiweskamik Indigenous Post-Doctoral Fellowship to the University of Saskatchewan, where she taught at the Department of Indigenous Studies. She is also the chief executive of a Kaupapa Māori organisation that delivers sexual and reproductive health support, policy, advisory services and research.
Leonie Pihama (Te Ātiawa, Ngā Māhanga a Tairi, Waikato) is a mother of six and grandmother of six mokopuna. She is a professor of Māori and Indigenous research, director of research at Tū Tama Wahine o Taranaki, and director of Māori and Indigenous analysis. She has held roles as professor of Māori research at Ngā Wai a Te Tūī Research Institute, and director at Te Kotahi Research Institute (Waikato) and the Indigenous Research Institute for Māori and Indigenous Education (University of Auckland). She was a recipient of the Hohua Tūtengaehe Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship and the inaugural Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Senior Māori Fulbright Scholarship at the University of Washington. In 2015, Leonie was awarded the Te Tohu Pae Tāwhiti Award and the Te Tohu Rapuora Award. She has served on the boards of the Māori Health Committee for the Health Research Council, Māori Television, Te Māngai Pāho and Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga.