Sir Tipene O’Regan is a former long-serving chairman of the Ngāi Tahu Māori Trust Board. He was a major architect of the Treaty Fisheries settlements of 1989 and 1992. In 1994 he was made a Knight Bachelor. He led the Iwi’s successful land and sea fisheries claims before the Waitangi Tribunal, culminating in the Ngāi Tahu Treaty Settlement of 1998. He co-chaired the Constitutional Advisory Panel (2012–13), which reported on public views on, and aspirations for, constitutional reform in New Zealand. In addition to his many other roles, he is the Upoko of Te Rūnaka o Awarua and chairman of Te Pae Kōrako, the Ngāi Tahu Archive advisory committee. In 2022 he received the New Zealander of the Year Award, Te Pou Whakarae o Aotearoa, and in the Queen’s Birthday and Platinum Jubilee Honours 2022, he was appointed a Member of the Order of New Zealand – the nation’s highest honour – for services to New Zealand.