CORPORATE CAREER
Dr Chris Westinghouse is a strategic scientist by training, an ex-politician, public servant, businessman and professional communications practitioner with almost 30 years of experience in strategic and policy level communications around the world.
He was closely associated with the democratic transition in South Africa during the 1980s and 1990s and held senior political positions in the years leading to the 1994 elections. He served as Joint Chairman of the Communications Working Group in the Office of the President, Deputy Director of the South African Communication Service responsible for both media and for communications projects, Director of Communications in the National Operations Centre in the Office of the President, and Director of Communications in the Ministry of Defence. He was instrumental in the release of Nelson Mandela from prison, and he was charged with project management of the National Communications Policy and Strategy of the reformist De Klerk Government that paved the way for the democracy negotiations.
He joined the Chamber of Mines of South Africa in 1992, with responsibility for the provision of strategic insights aimed at the transformation of the mining industry into the new political dispensation.
In 1997 he established Westinghouse Consulting Pty Ltd. The Company served a select group of aviation, financial services, healthcare and social development companies. He was retained as joint spokesperson by the top ten companies on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in a High Court and Appeals Court dispute with the SA Government.
He served as Executive Director of the Southern African Marketing Research Association in 1998, before joining the BoE as General Manager: Global Communications and Marketing.
He has served on the boards of companies around the world, including Westinghouse Consulting Pty Ltd and Christian Westinghouse Associates Pty Ltd (South Africa), Westinghouse Communications Ltd (New Zealand) and LatWest Pharmaceuticals Pty Ltd (South Africa). He has also served on the Board of Colthurst Ltd and Edenland Ltd, pharmaceuticals research houses in Dublin. He was a senior member of the Australian Public Affairs and Policy team at Pfizer, the world's leading pharmaceuticals company.
He has been a Member of the Institute of Directors in New Zealand, the Australian Institute of Company Directors and is a Chartered PR Practitioner. He has been a Member of the International Association of Business Communicators, a member of the Gerson Lehrman Group Council (USA) and organisations including the Law Society of New South Wales and various press clubs around the world. He is a Fellow of the Endangered Wildlife Trust, a member of the Southern African Wildlife Society and a past President of the Tokoroa branch of the Royal New Zealand SPCA.
PHOTOGRAPHY CAREER
Chris has a passion for photocommunication. After many years as a communicator he realised the inefficiency of word-based communication in the internet age, where there is a growing expectation that images and text should communicate instantly in order to be effective. He believes we should be making smarter use of simple images to convey complex messages, even to adult audiences. All language uses symbols, and pictures are obvious and powerful examples of their value in the process of communication.
He has been involved in serious photography since 2001, having been an amateur image-maker since childhood. Most of his published work is documentary and people-photography, but he has a passion for photojournalism, especially social and political commentary, travel and tourism and wildlife work.