Michelle is a Te Aitanga a Hauiti, Ngati Porou, Te Arawa woman and has over 13 years’ experience working in business development and research commercialisation. She drives activity relating to the intersection of western innovation, commercialisation, ventures and technological development with traditional Indigenous knowledge and practice.

Her academic background spans quantitative finance, marketing and applied cybernetics.

She is the Founder of Gandaywarra, the ANU First Nations Innovation Hub.

She was previously a non-executive Director of Cicada Innovations, Australia's leading incubator for startups and scaleups working on science and engineering innovations. She is currently a member of the Canberra Innovation Network’s Advisory Committee, wherein she offers strategic advice regarding the network’s overarching strategy, work plans and objectives.