Jesse Pirini

Jesse Pirini is a Senior Lecturer in Management at Victoria University of Wellington's School of Management, specializing in Indigenous management, entrepreneurship, and multimodal communication. He teaches courses in entrepreneurship, people analytics, and Indigenous management, governance and organization, and serves as a Fulbright Scholar who recently worked at UMass Boston and UMass Amherst exploring the visualization of Indigenous management knowledges.

His research spans Indigenous business ecosystems, multimodal analysis in organizational settings, and intellectual property governance related to Māori cultural elements. Pirini is currently co-Editor for the Indigenous Management: Knowledges and Frameworks book to be published by Sage in 2026, with a companion website at https://www.indigenousmanagement.org showcasing international collaborators and resources for teaching about Indigenous management.

Pirini's publication portfolio shows consistent focus on Indigenous business frameworks, with recent work examining Haka Ka Mate attribution law, Indigenous entrepreneurship ecosystems through the Ruruku Canvas framework, and multimodal analysis techniques. His research demonstrates strong interdisciplinary connections between business management, Indigenous studies, and communication theory, with particular emphasis on how Māori knowledge systems can inform contemporary business practices and organizational governance.

As a founding trustee of Te Matarau a Māui, a regional Māori development agency, and an Amonuku (Associate Director) on the He Tukutuku Koiora tikanga-led governance programme, Pirini actively contributes to community development initiatives. He also serves as a board observer with MetService - Te Ratonga Tirorangi.

• Completed doctoral supervision for Reuben Sanderson (2021-2025)
• Current grants: "How Innovative Data Visualization can Advance Indigenous Business" (2024) and "Strategizing for Resilience" (2024-2026)

Pirini's work bridges academic research with practical community applications, particularly through his leadership in developing frameworks that integrate Indigenous knowledge with business management practices, contributing significantly to the growing field of Indigenous business scholarship.