Healix International appointed Charlie Butcher as CEO in early June, succeeding Mike Webb who remains as chairman. In his first interview, Butcher speaks to Health & Protection about capitalising on opportunities in the US and collaborating with the firm’s sister company.
Trans-Atlantic focus
Charlie Butcher (pictured) has been with the Healix group for 15 years, holding the roles of finance director and commercial director before taking the international CEO position this summer, and now he wants to take it into the next stage of its growth.
It becomes apparent that as travel restrictions begin to ease in some parts of the world Butcher is particularly targeting the American market to expand the firm’s reach.
“With the UK opening up to fully vaccinated travellers from the US and Europe again, that will improve our ability to do business and sell our services,” he says.
“The US is a key area for us. We’ve got a sales team based out there and a small sales team Australasia. That US team is doing a fantastic job, and that region will remain a key focus along with Europe.”
Breaking down silos
Another key area of focus will be removing silos in the organisation and Butcher revealed he is keen to see the benefits of cross-pollination with the firm’s UK arm Healix Health Services.
That will mean working more closely with CEO Ian Talbot who was appointed to lead the sister company in April this year.
“They’ve got some fantastic clients and we should be able to provide added value to those clients with our services and advice within international markets,” Butcher says.
“We’ve got some ideas about products that we think will be helpful and useful to the global corporates that they work with.”
But Butcher wants to break down barriers inside the business as well.
He adds that he does not want staff to sit in their own silos and departments but instead to become more rounded and have a wider understanding of the business as whole.
An added benefit of this is that it can lead to more internal moves.
“I’ve been looking at some of the data and we’ve had a lot of internal promotions over the years – people have gone from being nurses to working in the IT department,” he continues.
“Even within the last 12 months, we’ve had lots of people moving departments within the business and I love that.
“That’s great because the clients will ultimately benefit if you’ve got someone who has been in medical assistance who might move into security assistance for example. We will be stronger and better because of that rather than operating in our own silos.”
Building product development
Reflecting on his predecessor’s time as CEO, Butcher picks out Webb’s drive towards a better balance between insurer and corporate clients as a significant development.
And he notes Webb’s focus on the security side of the business and development of its travel tracker over the last year as products which can be built upon.
“The tracker takes people’s itineraries and ensures that if they’re travelling to Paris for example and there’s a security incident there, we can clearly communicate with clients and let them know,” he says.
“Mike’s done a great job at developing that product and I will carry that on. I also think there’s an opportunity for me to look at pre-posting screening.
“So before someone goes abroad, we do a medical risk assessment and highlight whether it is appropriate to send someone to a remote developing country for example, if they have serious medical conditions. I can see that kind of security being a focus for me.”
Other products developed responding to the pandemic include Covid Travel Safe which provides a risk assessment based on the traveller’s medical history and destination country and Covid Work Safe which assesses medical risks for those heading back to the workplace.