Josiah Tualamali’i

Josiah has four brothers of Samoan and Pākehā whakapapa who grew up across Christchurch and Dunedin. In 2010 alongside a group of Pacific youth encouraged into leadership by their elders, co-founded the Pacific Youth Leadership and Transformation Trust (PYLAT) to support Pacific young people’s voices in democracy. He is an experienced governor, historian, Pacific and mental health policy specialist.

Josiah joined our Wise Group governance in 2015 with the Le Va board. He is currently also a trustee of Wise Charitable Trust. Outside of Wise, Josiah served as a panel member of the Government Inquiry into Mental Health and Addiction (2018) which has set the long term direction for mental health and addiction wellbeing in Aotearoa. Josiah co-led youth support for the Dawn Raids apology through the #TautokoThePanthers campaign (2021). He was a New Zealand Children’s Commissioner between 2023 – 2025. He has a Bachelor of Arts in History, Political Science and International Relations (2019) and a Masters of Arts in History with Distinction from the University of Canterbury (2025). In 2026 Josiah had the privilege to travel to Antarctica with the Antarctic Heritage Trust Inspiring Explorers programme fulfilling a dream since he was around seven years old.