Sir Wira Gardiner. Photo: Supplied
Sir Wira Gardiner is chair of the Local Government Commission overseeing our 78 local authorities, 11 regional councils and 67 territorial authorities. Rodney, Waiheke and the Wairarapa could all have new council structures this year. He's also a man who totally confounded the very low expectations people initially had of him.
Sir Wira left his high school drop-out days firmly behind him and proved his teachers wrong by going on to be the founding head of the Waitangi Tribunal and founding Chief Executive of the Ministry of Māori Development.
