Martin James
Director, Innovation and People
Martin moved into social innovation a decade ago after a significant career in a range of education settings. He has developed a deep understanding of system change and transformation practice, and human centred design, while working in partnership with government and NGOs across the social sector.
Martin works to grow our opportunities in Aotearoa, supporting social innovation and system’s change across education, health and social services. Many of the projects focus on improving life experiences and outcomes for Māori and Pasifika communities. The joy and impact in these projects comes from partnering in, working with, and learning from people of place.
Martin plays a key role in our education projects across Aotearoa and Australia as well as in our international education portfolio. Martin has for a number of years supported the education reform efforts in Bermuda and more recently in the British Virgin Islands.
Martin was part of the original team that formed Innovation Unit Australia New Zealand before our rebrand as ThirdStory in 2025. Martin’s background in education is at both school and system level. Having worked as an educational leader, mentor, facilitator and researcher, he was also an executive member at the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) where he had oversight of the teacher quality, improvement and innovation portfolio. The social innovation experiences gained over the last decade has seen Martin confidently lead out on system change and transformation projects as well as supporting small place based innovation projects.
Martin is passionate about self determination and decolonising systems that enable Māori and other first nations peoples to have agency over their social systems. He works to deepen his understanding of the role pākehā can play as allies in achieving these outcomes