Chris has spent decades in advertising agencies as the intern clearing the fax machine, to the ‘dizzying heights’ of CEO of Wavemker NZ and then CEO GroupM NZ. Chris has had the pleasure of dealing with thousands of clients; some amazing, some a little bit less than amazing. Dealing with thousands of colleagues; some of whom Chris is now great mates with, and some who won’t be sending Chris a Christmas card.

Chris’s Battle wounds include the 2001 DotCom bust, the 2008 GFC a Pandemic and some very average stakeholders to manage. These experiences all taught Chris a lot.

Marketing, advertising and communications has been Chris’s passion for almost 30 years. Chris loves the people, the culture and the frantic pace of the business. One of Chris’s favourite quotes is from Daniel Brown (Boys in the Boat) “Good crews are good blends of personalities: someone to lead the charge, someone to hold something in reserve; someone to pick a fight, someone to make peace; someone to think things through, someone to charge ahead without thinking.”

It’s akin to modern business. This is what Chris loves about working in leadership roles with many different people.

Chris is a massive believer that wellbeing should be more than words for HR people to box check. Chris believes that this is worth fighting for. Particularly for senior people, who often get overlooked. Chris takes huge pride in seeing the junior leaders he has worked with land high profile positions in companies all around the world. Chris likes early mornings. It’s when he covers the most ground mentally and physically (on a bike).