Southern Cross Health Trust CEO on parenting, billionaires and fixing work cultures
Wednesday, 12 November 2025
Chris White is chief executive of the Southern Cross Health Trust.
What was your most formative life experience?
It’s going to sound cliché but becoming a parent. It’s a role you never complete, finish or retire from and there is no calling more profound. Children are a gift to be nurtured and cherished as our future. That said, it’s hard work raising kids and I don’t envy parents with young kids trying to juggle careers. Mine are 18 and 20 now – we are empty nesters but education funders! My wife gave up her successful marketing career about seven years ago to be around for the teenage years - a huge sacrifice on her part – and as a result we have two damn fine humans who will hopefully not pack us off to a rest home ahead of our time!
Who is your most inspirational figure, and why?
I was fortunate to work with a Kiwi billionaire and some of the clever people they surround themselves with. Big-picture thinking, a tight team of advisers, hiring the best talent you can find, good timing and having institutional backers who believe in you as much as you believe in yourself — none of it is easy. The owner is grounded, hard working and operated a high-trust model with a simple strategy: Get very smart people to do what they are good at and reward them for results. This engendered loyalty, affinity and pride – core elements of any hard-working, high-performing team. It was an experience that felt like some crazy combination of The Amazing Race, The Apprentice and Survivor Island. I still miss it.
Favourite book?
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy – all 1225 pages of it. Finishing this book comes with legit bragging rights and it’s an epic read. I picked up a copy during a European holiday a few years ago and had the time and inclination to read it properly. I’m proud of my perseverance and still have my paperback copy.
As a leader, how would you address a toxic work culture?
Find the root cause and act. Toxic cultures are often products of high performing / high potential people, so the natural tendency is to forgive what starts as minor behavioural traits in return for strong results. Damage happens quickly and leaders don’t always hear the noise until it’s too late. Leaders need to find time to connect your observations and ask different people how it’s really going. I describe this as “looking for the silence” – in a data rich world, ask yourself where is there no data or no noise? Silence can be deafening when you tune into it.
Hardest decision ever?
As a newly minted travel insurance CEO, I was often asked to approve or decline claims based on limited information. The customers were mostly offshore and seeking real time decisions on eligibility / cover for urgent medical care or support. In one memorable case, a customer purported to be in a remote part of Africa needing an urgent Medi-Vac. Our assessors were pretty certain it was fraudulent but denying cover would have real consequences if we were wrong.
In the end we sent in armed private security to prove or dis-prove that the customer existed. As it happened, it was a fraud. #pays-to-check, #work-stories.
Should billionaires exist?
Yes, I have met a few and without exception, they have been humble, private, driven and deeply generous. In my experience, self-made wealth is something to be admired and celebrated.
New Zealand still tends to apply our tall poppy approach and look for things to be critical of or complain about. Wealth is often the product of high risk and high reward - or failure. We need more people prepared to take risks that ultimately create jobs and incomes for our families and communities.
If I were a billionaire, I would…
Run my own version of Dragon’s Den and use that to fund entrepreneurs and innovators to follow their dreams (investments matched with mentors and advisers who can help guide and enable success). The catch being that the investment stake is held and future returns are ultimately transferred to the NZ Superannuation Fund for the betterment of all New Zealanders.
What is the one thing that could happen in New Zealand tomorrow that would make life better for most people?
Teach the history of Aotearoa as a mandatory subject in all our schools. Kids go through school often studying languages and subjects like French and Latin. Learning the history of this country is empowering and important for all of us.
Bio: Chris White was appointed CEO of the Southern Cross Health Trust in 2021. He is also CEO of the Trust’s largest subsidiary – Southern Cross Healthcare. Chris joined Southern Cross Healthcare as Chief Operations Officer in 2020 after three years in a CEO role on the insurance side of Southern Cross. He sits on the boards of a number of Southern Cross Healthcare's joint ventures and has previously held external governance roles.
Southern Cross is the official sponsor of Southern Cross Round the Bays, being held in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland in February and March. Corporate hospitality packages are available. Go to roundthebays.co.nz for details.