About Chris & John
About CP Liddell
CP (Chris) Liddell has had a distinguished career spanning the private sector, politics, and philanthropy.
In the private sector, Chris has over 30 years of corporate experience. He served as Chief Financial Officer at Microsoft Corporation and International Paper. He was also Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer at General Motors, where he managed the company’s historic $23 billion initial public offering in November 2010—at the time, the largest IPO ever. In New Zealand he was CEO of Carter Holt Harvey, Chairman of Xero and joint CEO of the forerunner to Jarden.
He served as White House Deputy Chief of Staff during the first Trump administration and was also the Director of the American Technology Council. He has been involved in four presidential transition cycles and recently wrote “Year Zero,” a book on establishing a more effective White House.
In the philanthropic sector, he is Founding Chairman of NEXT, New Zealand’s largest environmental foundation and has served on several boards, including the New Zealand Rugby Union.
Chris holds a Bachelor of Engineering from Auckland University and a Master of Philosophy from the University of Oxford. At MAGS Chris had the honour of winning both the Dux ( top academic award) and Victor Ludorum ( best all round sportsman) as well as the school prizes in Maths, Applied Maths, Physics, Chemistry and the cup for the Best Player in the First XV.
About John Liddell
John Liddell started at MAGS in 1969 finishing in the seventh form in 1973. In his last year he was a prefect, captain of the weightlifting team, and member of the rowing 8, athletics team and championship winning 1st XV. In April of 1973 Chris and John’s father died suddenly of a heart attack. John decided to leave school to work but headmaster Mr Hall told John not to leave school but to take on employment and come to school when he could. The headmaster and teachers supported both John and Chris throughout their school years and beyond at university. Many of those wonderful teachers became friends and mentors later in life and their support underlies both the student scholarships and the teacher awards gifted each year.
John holds a Diploma in Physical Education, a BA and a BCom from Auckland University and a Master of Philosophy from Massey University. John joined the Territorial Army in 1975 and after working in various business roles he became a Regular Force officer in 1985. He has remained with the NZDF ever since moving to part time work in 2023 as an ‘NZDF Ambassador’ in Auckland. His military career has taken him to every continent including service in Bosnia, Croatia, Korea, Malaysia, the Middle East and East Timor. John has been married to Wendy for 45 years and they settled back to NZ in 2018 with a few acres, an orchard and some sheep in Kumeu. Since 2015 John has continued to serve MAGS as a member of the MAGS Foundation and Board of Trustees.