Paul is a graduate of Harvard University, a career professional entrepreneur, a former Affiliate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Family Enterprise at INSEAD (the Financial Times #1 business school in the world), and co-founder, with his wife Natasha, of the business consulting practice Mātanga Hāpai in New Zealand.
He is the author of Survive & Thrive: Entrepreneurship Frameworks That Work, which offers easy to follow guides to create entrepreneurial initiatives. (available on Amazon worldwide). He also authored a work of contemporary business fiction, an allegory, titled SoWai: A Novel (available on Amazon worldwide).
At INSEAD, he won the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching multiple times. He has taught in the MBA, EMBA, and Executive Education programs. Since 2009 he has taught INSEAD’s popular course Your First Hundred Days, which is a real-time role-play crisis leader- ship simulation on how to acquire and turnaround a failing company. Among other successful original courses based on frameworks in this book, Paul created INSEAD’s very popular Startup Bootcamp (based on his Startup framework) and has taught it in 24 countries around the world.
Before joining INSEAD, Paul held roles in companies ranging from technical support to CEO. In addition to various roles in small companies, his big company experience was as a Technology Evangelist at Apple, and Director of New Business Development and Strategic Planning at NEC.
Paul has helped people at all education and experience levels successfully create companies, and build successful new initiatives inside organizations, across various industries around the world. One of Paul’s key drivers is helping people work toward their potential in business and in life.
He is an educator, trainer, coach, consultant, and a frequent public speaker. He is an Anchor Mentor for Google’s Accelerators worldwide.
He is married with three children and has lived in the USA, Ireland, France, Thailand, and Singapore.
Paul is a Muay Thai enthusiast. He loves languages, he is studying te reo Māori, and is fluent in Thai.
Special note:
People often ask how to pronounce the family name: Kewene-Hite. All letters e in “Kewene” are pronounced quickly and sound the same, like the short letter e sound in the words: jet set. The emphasis is on the first syllable and sounds like: KEH-weh-neh. “Hite” sounds like the word height as in how tall or an elevation. Hite is Paul’s original family name and Kewene is his wife Natasha’s original family name; they combined their family names when they married in 1993.
Natasha’s philosophy operates under the premise that the corporate world is made up of human beings living professional lives. She is driven by those processes which bridge knowledge and insights that enrich our lives. She is passionate about people and making connections that build bridges of understanding in unexpected places. She is loves to explore growth and development at an individual and organizational level, recognizing the impact that unconscious drivers can have on our ability to navigate relationships, our collaborative efforts and living our best lives.
She is passionate about issues related to systemic racism. Her research interests include psychological safety, identity threat and organizational culture. As an INSEAD graduate with an Executive Masters in Consulting and Coaching for Change, her Master’s thesis is entitled, “Minding the Gap, reBuilding the Bridge: A Psychodynamic and Autoethnographic Exploration of the Role of Mirroring on Institutional Racism and the Duality of Māori and Pākehā Identity“.
Born in Wellington, New Zealand and raised in the United States, after a lifetime overseas, she has returned to her homeland, now based in Featherston, New Zealand. She has a Māori father (Ngāti Kahungunu and Tainui), and a Pākehā mother, born of Welsh/English/Russian immigrants nearly 100 years ago. As a bi-cultural, third culture kid, she learned first-hand and early on the impact that our background has on our world view, how we live and we tackle problems. She is passionate about exploring what it takes to navigate those challenges and helping others to do the same.
She has worked in logistics and operations for Microsoft/Tandem/HP and CH2M Hill and has committed extensive hours to volunteer work: in a rape crisis clinic; as a missionary working in 1980s NYC Latino communities; as lead events organizer for the Utah Special Olympics; mentor to disadvantaged, struggling inner-city youth; Co-lead, Foreign Policy group, Mormon Women for Ethical Government. She is deeply passionate about working with women, girls and youth to become their best selves. Married to a career entrepreneur, she also has extensive experience and in-depth insight into the life of a tech entrepreneur and the impact that journey has on relationships, family and home life.
Fluent in English, Spanish and French, she is now studying te reo (the Māori language). Natasha spent 10 years living across Europe and Asia, and with her husband Paul, raising their three children across four countries, three school systems and one foreign language (French). She is a passionate textile artist who in her spare time makes upcycled felted wool sweaters for children. She loves the natural world, hiking in mountains, swimming in blue seas and touching the sky.
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