The CDHB, like other district health boards, was governed by a group that is partially elected and partially appointed. Since the
2001 New Zealand local elections, the elected part of the board had been determined as part of the triennial local elections using the
single transferable vote system. There were generally eleven board members, seven of whom are elected and the remaining appointed by the minister of health. The minister also appointed the chairperson and deputy chair from the pool of eleven members.
2010–2013 The following were elected in the
2010 local elections or appointed by the minister of health: • Bruce Matheson (chair; appointed) • Peter Ballantyne (deputy chair; appointed) • Anna Crighton (elected) • Elizabeth Cunningham (appointed) • Andrew Dickerson (elected) • Wendy Gilchrist (elected) • Aaron Keown (elected) • Chris Mene (elected) • David Morrell (elected) • Susan Wallace (appointed) • Olive Webb (elected)
2013–2016 The following were elected in the
2013 local elections or appointed by the minister of health: • Murray Cleverley (chair; appointed) • Steve Wakefield (deputy chair; appointed) • Sally Buck (elected) • Anna Crighton (elected) • Andrew Dickerson (elected) • Jo Kane (elected) • Aaron Keown (elected) • Chris Mene (elected) • Edie Moke (appointed) • David Morrell (elected) • Susan Wallace (appointed)
2019–2022 The following were elected in the
2019 local elections: • Sally Buck (resigned July 2020; died 9 September 2020) • James Gough • Jo Kane • Naomi Marshall •
Aaron Keown • Catherine Chu • Andrew Dickerson The four members appointed by the
Minister of Health are: • Sir
John Hansen (chair) •
Gabrielle Huria (deputy chair) • Barry Bragg • Ingrid Taylor
Chairperson At most district health boards, the previous Hospital and Health Service (HHS) board chair was appointed as the inaugural chair, but not so at the Canterbury District Health Board. When the acting chairperson of the HHS board
Humphry Rolleston retired, Syd Bradley was appointed the inaugural CDHB chairperson by Health Minister
Annette King starting 1 January 2001. Bradley was succeeded in November 2007 by Alister James, who was appointed chairperson by Health Minister
David Cunliffe. After serving as a
Christchurch City Councillor until 2004, James successfully stood for the CDHB in
October 2004 instead. In the
2007 local elections, James was defeated, but Cunliffe made him the government-appointed chair. Health Minister
Tony Ryall appointed Bruce Matheson in November 2010 to replace James. In 2013, Ryall appointed Murray Cleverley, concurrently with the chairpersonship for the
South Canterbury District Health Board (where he had been chair since January 2010). In February 2017, Cleverley resigned from the district health board positions over alleged fraudulent activity carried out by staff reporting to him at the
Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA). Sir
Mark Solomon, who had been appointed by Health Minister
Jonathan Coleman in November 2016 as deputy chair, took over as acting chair from Cleverly. In August 2017, former diplomat and current university chancellor
John Wood was appointed by Coleman as the new chair, with Solomon returning to the role of deputy chair. In December 2019, retired judge Sir
John Hansen was appointed by Health Minister
David Clark to succeed Wood. ==Demographics==