Carrie Stoddart Smith
Carrie founded OpinioNative an Indigenous consultancy firm that creates content for policy makers and systems shapers which provides advisory services on Māori and Indigenous contributions to the APEC Business Advisory Council New Zealand branch.
Carrie holds a Post Graduate Certificate in Māori & Indigenous Leadership as well as a Master of Laws in International Law and Politics awarded with first class honours where she was also a dual recipient of the International Law Group Trust Prize at the University of Canterbury. She also holds a conjoint Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor Arts from the University of Auckland.

Carrie was recently appointed as a member of Te Taumata – a Māori Trade Advisory Group to the New Zealand Government and was a member of the inaugural INDIGI-X exchange program between Indigenous professionals from Canada and New Zealand in 2020. Prior to this, she co-founded Ngāpuhi ki Tāmaki – an urban Māori charitable trust set up to support Ngāpuhi tribal members living in the Auckland region, and served on the Board of Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand.
Carrie is committed to upholding the legacy of her ancestors toward peace and security for Indigenous Peoples. Carrie considers international trade and economic advancement as critical levers to achieving that goal by ensuring Indigenous peoples can maintain access to supply chains for the goods and services they need for the social, economic and cultural wellbeing of their peoples. Carrie has an aspiration for the indigenisation of the multilateral trading system that places reciprocity, responsibility, respect, redistribution and relationships as central values to the future of global trade policy.