Southern Cross Healthcare (SCHL) has made three additions to its board – trustees Chris Black, David Bridgman and Dr Dwayne Crombie.
The appointments follow Keith Taylor’s retirement from SCHL’s board at the end of 2021. Taylor served on both the SCHL and Southern Cross Health Society boards for 11 years.
Black was chief executive of mutual insurer FMG from 2008 to 2021 and was an independent director of FMG prior to this. Black was previously a member of the Insurance Council of New Zealand (ICNZ), including a three-year appointment as ICNZ president. He was also a commissioner of the Insurance and Financial Services Ombudsman scheme and board member of BNZ Life Insurance. He also previously served as the vice-chair of the International Cooperative & Mutual Insurance Federation.
Bridgman is a veteran advisor in the corporate finance and restructuring field. He retired from PwC at the end of 2020 after 22 years as a partner. He has worked extensively with many leading New Zealand cooperatives and mutual organisations and currently chairs several private companies and provides corporate finance and strategic advisory services on his own account.
Crombie has worked at global healthcare organisation Bupa for 15 years in several managing director roles, and is currently head of health services at Bupa Asia-Pacific. Prior to this, he was CEO for Waitemata Health and Waitemata DHB. He is currently the chair for Repromed Auckland and is a board member of Bupa Health Services, Bupa Innovation and George Health.
SCHL said it undertook a robust and thorough search for Taylor’s successor and to fill two additional trustee vacancies.
“We believe Mr Bridgman, Mr Black and Dr Crombie will each make a significant contribution to the SCHL board and complement the skill set of the other trustees,” said Southern Cross Healthcare chair Greg Gent. “On behalf of the board, I would like to express my particular gratitude and appreciation to Mr Taylor for his leadership and considerable service in fulfilling the purpose of helping to make quality healthcare more affordable and accessible for all New Zealanders.”
