The hands on the thread.
Guided by experience.
Committed to a stronger tomorrow.
Our board brings together a diverse range of knowledge, experience and perspectives, ensuring we remain accountable to our people, our land, and future generations.
David Steele
Director
David is a highly experienced governance leader, chartered accountant, and strategic adviser with decades of executive and board experience across private, public, and not-for-profit sectors.
He is a founding Director of dpa Chartered Accountants, a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, and a Chartered Member of the Institute of Directors.
David brings deep expertise in finance, acquisitions, strategic planning, and organisational leadership, with a strong track record of supporting business growth, governance excellence, and community impact.
Toro Waaka
Director · Ngāti Pāhauwera
Toro is Chair of Ngāti Pāhauwera Development Trust and a director and shareholder in a number of companies, including Aho Farms Ltd. He also chairs a number of charitable trusts, including Hawke's Bay Māori Tourism.
Toro holds an MBA and is a recipient of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
He brings extensive board and business experience built over several decades in organisations including Te Ohu Kaimoana, Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated, Paroa Trust and New Zealand Māori Tourism, and holds the controlling interest in a number of businesses, including Citywalks World and Tio Enterprises Ltd.
Stephen McPhail
Chair
Stephen is an active angel investor and Chair of Aho Farms Limited. His 30 plus years in investment and start-up businesses include co-founding two start-ups that both listed on the ASX, mentoring many founders and helping many businesses raise capital.
Stephen James McPhail is a company director and investor with over 30 years' experience in investment banking, capital raising and corporate governance of early-stage hi-tech ventures, with a particular focus on angel investing, mergers and acquisitions, and technology and agritech.
He also serves as a director of Koru Biotech Solutions (trading as Koru Diagnostics), an animal health diagnostics and therapeutics company. For nine years up until July 2026 he chaired the board of MyMahi Ltd, an EdTech start-up focused on teenager wellbeing. He also assists in the management of MIG Angels, the Manawatu-based angel investment club, through which he actively invests in early-stage ventures.
Earlier in his career, Stephen ran Morel & Co, a New Zealand technology-focused investment bank, from 1997 to 2003. He co-founded and led two companies through multiple capital raises to successful ASX listings, raising a combined $30 million: King Solomon Mines Ltd, a Gobi Desert (China) focused copper and gold explorer that listed in 2007, and Highlake Resources NL, a Victoria, Australia focused gold explorer that listed in 1996. He has also managed the exit of entrepreneurs and investors through the sale of tech businesses, and has previously acted on behalf of the Crown Law Office as an expert witness on tax cases.
Stephen holds a B.Sc. (Hons) in Mathematics and an MSc in Numerical Analysis from the University of Otago, and an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM) in Sydney.
Longo Reo Te Kooro
Managing Director · Ngāti Kahungunu | Ngāti Rangi | Ngāi Tahu
Longo brings six years in the Californian cannabis industry, through one full market cycle, with experience in cultivation at scale, project and team management, and finished flower processing and packaging at scale.
Longo was born and raised in Hastings and left for America in 2017, to be a part of the recreational cannabis industry in central California. Within the space of a year, Longo became a cultivator, where he spent four years understanding the cultivation aspect of the industry. Following this Longo developed a human resource team and took on projects in harvesting, manicuring and packaging finished flower for farms that sized anywhere between 10,000 square foot canopies to as high as 3-acre canopies.
Mike Maclean
Cultivation Director
Mike brings fifteen years in the Californian cannabis industry, through three full market cycles, with experience in cultivation at scale, project management, consulting, manufacturing at scale, operations and team management, finished product processing at scale and wholesale distribution.
Mike Maclean started cultivating cannabis in California in 2008 through to 2012. Following 2012 Mike started consulting and manufacturing cannabis base products in the form of vape cartridges, edibles, and concentrates. Mike continued this practice in the industry until 2017. From 2017 Mike went on to found Fisher Brother Farms which is a 3 acre commercial cannabis farm in California.
Experienced people.
A stronger tomorrow.
Our leadership team brings together deep experience in cultivation, regulated markets, healthcare, governance and Māori enterprise, with a shared commitment to long-term value.
Our core team combines complementary skills and perspectives, grounded in whenua, commercial discipline, and a belief in the positive impact of medicinal cannabis for people and communities.
Longo Reo Te Kooro
Managing Director · Ngāti Kahungunu | Ngāti Rangi | Ngāi Tahu
Longo brings six years in the Californian cannabis industry, through one full market cycle, with experience in cultivation at scale, project and team management, and finished flower processing and packaging at scale.
Longo was born and raised in Hastings and left for America in 2017, to be a part of the recreational cannabis industry in central California. Within the space of a year, Longo became a cultivator, where he spent four years understanding the cultivation aspect of the industry. Following this Longo developed a human resource team and took on projects in harvesting, manicuring and packaging finished flower for farms that sized anywhere between 10,000 square foot canopies to as high as 3-acre canopies.
Mike Maclean
Cultivation Director
Mike brings fifteen years in the Californian cannabis industry, through three full market cycles, with experience in cultivation at scale, project management, consulting, manufacturing at scale, operations and team management, finished product processing at scale and wholesale distribution.
Mike Maclean started cultivating cannabis in California in 2008 through to 2012. Following 2012 Mike started consulting and manufacturing cannabis base products in the form of vape cartridges, edibles, and concentrates. Mike continued this practice in the industry until 2017. From 2017 Mike went on to found Fisher Brother Farms which is a 3 acre commercial cannabis farm in California.
Kori James
Growth Manager · Ngāti Maniapoto | Te Rarawa
Kori James is a Māori entrepreneur and Growth Manager at Aho Farms, focused on building strong businesses, strategic partnerships and long-term value.
Raised in Titahi Bay, Porirua. Kori has always had a strong sense of connection to who he is and where he comes from. His people, culture and community. That grounding shapes his approach to business and fuels his passion for Māori entrepreneurship and creating opportunities for Māori-owned businesses to succeed both in Aotearoa and internationally.
Kori brings 14 years of experience in large-scale industrial process operations, specialising in pulp refining, chemical processing, bleaching systems, and steam / gas plant operations. Alongside this, he has built and operated businesses of his own, giving him hands-on experience across growth, leadership, strategy and day-to-day operations.
At Aho Farms, Kori leads growth, market development and strategic partnerships across New Zealand and international markets. His approach is grounded in trust and transparency, turning early relationships into consistent, dependable partnerships that endure.
Kori is passionate about helping build Aho Farms into a globally recognised Māori-owned medicinal cannabis business, pairing high-quality cultivation and traceability with the people, whenua and story behind Aho.
For Kori, Aho Farms is a chance to show what Māori entrepreneurship can achieve on the world stage: a business grounded in Aotearoa, proud of where it comes from and ambitious about where it’s going.