Mele Wendt, MNZM (Samoan, palagi) is a respected leader in the not for profit sector, education sector and Pacific community. Her governance career spans over 25 years across 20 different entities. She currently chairs Wellington Community Fund, and serves on the boards of Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu (The Correspondence School), the Real Estate Authority, Tāwhiri: Festivals and Experiences, and the Tokelau International Trust Fund. Mele is also the National Vice President - Central Region of P.A.C.I.F.I.C.A. Inc.

Mele has been involved in grant-giving/making for over 18 years. She also provides consultancies in governance training, Pacific peoples’ development, organisational capacity building, scholarships management, and mentoring.

Mele’s professional roles have included being a high school teacher, the founding pacific islands liaison officer and manager of the student recruitment office at Victoria University of Wellington, and then the executive director of Fulbright New Zealand for ten years.

In 2019 she was awarded a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for her services to governance, the Pacific community and women. In 2022 she won the Not-For-Profit Governance Leader Award at the Women in Governance Awards. Mele is a White Ribbon Ambassador and a member of various professional and community groups. Mele is a wife, mother and grandmother, and a proud Wellingtonian.