Nomination Papers, Candidate Bio and Q&A

About

Chris is a technology business executive. As Founder of Qualcomm Life, he helped grow the business from inception to the world’s leading medical device information platform with revenues exceeding $140M and over 400 employees worldwide. In 2019, Qualcomm Life was sold to private equity, then as Capsule Technologies to Philips Healthcare for USD $635 million, at which time Chris retired and moved back to Victoria. Chris also co-founded the joint investment company dRx Capital, a partnership between Qualcomm, Inc. and Novartis AG focused on the digital therapeutics space. Prior to this, Chris was Vice President of Business Development at Fortune 500 company Qualcomm, Inc.

Chris has been an advisor to over fifty philanthropic projects around the world, focused on the application of technology to improve access to and quality of healthcare. This includes work with the Qualcomm Foundation, X-Prize Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Economic Forum.

Prior to his work career, Chris was a James McGill and JW McConnell scholar, earning his BComm degree from McGill, followed by an Executive MBA as a MacDonald Dettwiler scholar at UBC.

Chris is a SMUS Alum, Class of 1987, one of the first “Lifers” at SMUS, a current parent, and the son of a former SMUS teacher – providing somewhat of a 360-degree view of SMUS life that lends diverse perspective to the Board. After SMUS, Chris spent a year in boarding at Tonbridge School in the UK as an English Speaking Union scholar, earning his A-levels.

As part of his SMUS Board service, Chris is Vice-Chair of the SMUS Board, and recent Chair of the Nominations Committee (currently recused while he is a current candidate for this year’s Board Slate) as well as serves on the Executive Committee, the Governance Committee, the ad-hoc Opportunities Committee and formerly on the Advancement Committee.

Now retired, Chris has ample time to continue to contribute to the Board.  Outside of his board work, Chris enjoys playing golf and tennis and spending time boating along the coast. He and his wife Pamela live in Victoria and are parents of Oliver Talbot ’28.

What is your connection to SMUS?

I have several strong and enduring connections to the school. I am an alumnus of the school and one of the first “Lifers”, graduating in 1987.  I am currently a parent of a Grade 9 student. Furthermore, I am the son of a former teacher at the school. 

For the past three years, I have had the privilege to serve on the SMUS Board. Currently, I am Vice-Chair of the SMUS Board and recent Chair of the Nominations Committee (currently recused while I am a current candidate for this year’s Board Slate), as well as serving on the Executive Committee, the Governance Committee, the ad-hoc Opportunities Committee and formerly on the Advancement Committee. I remain passionate about ensuring that every effort, every day is towards making this institution even better and more sustainable than when I joined the Board.

These varied connections to SMUS have given me a broad perspective upon which to contribute to strategic school matters as a Board Member.

Why do you want to be on the Board of Governors for SMUS?

I have greatly benefited from the academic and life preparation that SMUS has provided me, including the many friendships that I’ve maintained with former students and teachers.

Like many alumni and parents, I care deeply for the school.  It is a special and world-class institution that continues to provide outstanding preparation for life.  As I recently retired in 2019 and moved back to my hometown of Victoria, this has been a cherished opportunity for me to give back to the school and dedicate significant time and energy to furthering the school’s ambitious goals.

In addition to the significant time that I can contribute to the Board, I am also confident that my work and life experiences can benefit the Society, the Board and the various committees that I serve on.

In particular, I am a strong believer that teamwork in leadership is the single most important strategic advantage that any institution can develop, whether in business or on this Board. This is a reason why I am so passionate about contributing to the Nominations Committee in particular. Teamwork is the great multiplier that makes every difficult or complex decision more informed and every executive action more effective. It fosters and encourages vigorous debate from diverse perspectives of highly competent Board peers. Vigorous and constructive debate enables better and more committed decision making, mutual trust, respect and ultimately accountability. I am very proud of the Board team that we continue to build and the culture that is evolving and I hope to have the opportunity to continue to do so.

What personal and professional experience would you bring to the Board if selected?

As a SMUS alum lifer, the son of a former teacher, a former day student as well as a boarder at another top international school, and currently a parent of a child at SMUS who has also experienced previous international independent schools, I have a broad set of school perspectives to lend to the Board.

Professionally, I have been a successful businessperson, founding, growing and leading Qualcomm Life, a successful high technology, global healthcare business.

While it was a for-profit organization, Qualcomm Life was very mission driven and the people who worked at the company felt the same unifying strength of mission that a not-for-profit like the school feels. The experience in building and managing a diverse and international team and business, with a complex series of global stakeholders in a highly regulated industry, while maintaining focus on our higher mission and sense of purpose, has prepared me well to help govern SMUS within the framework of our bylaws and the BC Societies Act. I have expertise in leadership, team-building, pragmatic governance and building consensus when faced with challenging and complex issues.  It is not always an easy path, but a high functioning leadership team does not shy away from making difficult decisions that are in the best interest of the institution – in this case, the Society and the school.

The school is blessed with outstanding leadership, teachers and staff, and our role as governors is not to manage the day-to-day operations but to take a longer-term, strategic perspective of the school’s future, helping the school achieve its ambitious goals, while ensuring its good governance and enduring policies.

My personal and professional background, together with my experience in key leadership positions on this Board over the past three years, has given me the grounding that I can continue to build upon for the next three years.

Do you understand and agree to the principles of good governance as outlined on the Society Webpage?

Yes. Additionally, these principles of good governance are also fundamental underpinnings of good teamwork and leadership for any Board. Maintaining confidentiality, prioritizing interests of the school, observing proper lines of communication, respecting your peers, participating in deliberations and decisions and supporting the majority decisions once reached are important leadership and teamwork skills required of a successful business leader as well.  Without these underpinnings, a leadership team loses trust in each other and vigorous, open debate around the Board table is muted. Without such debate, there is lack of commitment and therefore lack of accountability to the key, strategic decisions. These principles are all inextricably linked to effective Board governance and we as a Board continue to consciously work on developing our teamwork.

Another key area that we as a Board continue to work on that contributes to good governance is Board transparency. In recent years, the Nominations Committee has ramped up efforts to share with the Society why each successive recommended Board slate has been so recommended. There is now improved transparency available on the Governance and Nominations section of the SMUS website. We are very specific about what expertise and skills we are seeking and why.  Additionally, this past December we reached out to the full SMUS community with a Call for Nominations, making clear what expertise we were seeking and why and encouraged qualified candidates to come forward.  As a result of this call, we heard from several excellent candidates that may not have otherwise approached the Nominations Committee. With more qualified candidates, we continue to further diversify our Board so that our board table better reflects our school community, and ensures a more diverse set of perspectives are heard and considered. These are all important developments that contribute to good governance.  

It is an honour and privilege to have the opportunity to contribute my time, expertise and philanthropy to the school so as stewards of the school, we can ensure it is even better tomorrow than the place we know and love today, just as our predecessors did before us.

Do you understand and support the Strategic Plan (FLOREAT) for SMUS?

Yes, it is an ambitious plan with significant growth and fundraising required. The strategic priorities of Foundation, Preparation for Life, Sustainability and Community are important pillars of the plan that I am also committed to. The school is now halfway through the plan and it is remarkable how through a pandemic as well as through rising geopolitical and economic uncertainties and the rapid emergence of AI and its implications on future academic life, alongside the “normal” challenges of implementing such an ambitious strategic plan, the school remains on course.  Credit goes to our school leadership and staff, as well as all of those in the broader school community that have donated their time and philanthropy towards this remarkable progress.  As we start to refresh Floreat, with our new Head of School’s leadership and the natural fresh perspectives that this brings, together with a renewed focus towards STEAM and what that will mean for our school, the Board has much work to do to make these remaining five years of Floreat all that they can be.

As a current parent, it is also evident to me how the Floreat focus on “outstanding preparation for life” will serve our student body well. With the rapid pace of technology, AI and ongoing economic and geopolitical changes, the only certainty is change. Outstanding preparation for life will ensure students receive the broad preparation necessary to have them flourish in all the different ways that they are encouraged to do so at the school.

Do you understand and support the need for a culture of philanthropy at SMUS, both
amongst the Society Members and the Board itself? If elected to the Board, please confirm that you plan to contribute to both the Annual Fund and the Journey for Life Campaign for each year that you are on the Board?

Yes, I remain a proud annual donor to both the Journey for Life Campaign and the Annual Fund and look forward to continuing those contributions. 

Through my involvement on the Board and its various committees, including my prior involvement on the Advancement Committee, I am constantly reminded of how philanthropy is not an option, but rather a duty of each of us as Society members who are able to contribute one way or another. These contributions have longer term value. The school that I graduated from in 1987 benefitted from the philanthropic contributions of those in the 1970s and 80s just as the students of today continue to benefit from the philanthropy of those in the 2000s. Subsequent generations benefit from prior philanthropy – it is a not a short-term transaction.

At the same time, I am constantly mindful that school fees alone do not cover the costs for building and operating the world class institution we offer today.  Philanthropy is a necessity to deliver on Floreat.

The amount that each of us can give is less important than the act of giving. Without this, the school could not be what it is today and will not be what we need it to be tomorrow.

My dedication to philanthropy is also reflected in the many philanthropic organizations that I have been involved in over the years, including many not-for-profit healthcare initiatives to improve access and sustainability of healthcare. These include collaborations with organizations such as the Qualcomm Foundation, the World Economic Forum, the X-Prize Foundation (Tricorder X-Prize), Global eHealth Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

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