nrf51822 bonding/whitelist creation

Question

I am trying to scan and connect to a Polar H7 HR belt (which I can do), with m_scan_mode = BLE_NO_SCAN. Once this happens, I understand they are supposed to bond, and at that point, the H7 belt details will be saved to the whitelist.
Then after doing that I can scan with m_scan_mode = BLE_WHITELIST_SCAN and be assured I am connecting to the correct HR belt. 
 I can connect to the belt just fine, but after restarting, my whitelist is always blank. I also put a breakpoint on the line:
DM_LOG("[DM]:[CI 0x%02X]:[DI 0x%02X]: Bonded!
",
in my app, which is based on ble_app_hrs_c. This breakpoint never gets hit. 
 I've spent all day trying to get the belt added to whitelist, pulling my hair out :-(
Does anyone have any ideas? 
 Code bits look like below. When I do my initial scan, PairingScan is set to 1, and when I am just trying to connect to the supposebly whitelisted belt, PairingScan is set to 0. 
 static void device_manager_init(void){
dm_application_param_t param;
dm_init_param_t init_param;

uint32_t err_code;

err_code = pstorage_init();
APP_ERROR_CHECK(err_code);

	if(PairingScan == 1) //initial scan to pair a new belt
	{
 init_param.clear_persistent_data = true;
 m_scan_mode = BLE_NO_SCAN;
 //printf("Clearing whitelist, open scanning
");
	}
	else
	{
 m_scan_mode = BLE_WHITELIST_SCAN;
 //printf("whitelist scan started
");
	}
	APP_ERROR_CHECK(err_code);
	
err_code = dm_init(&init_param);
APP_ERROR_CHECK(err_code);

memset(&param.sec_param, 0, sizeof (ble_gap_sec_params_t));

// Event handler to be registered with the module.
param.evt_handler = device_manager_event_handler;

// Service or protocol context for device manager to load, store and apply on behalf of application.
// Here set to client as application is a GATT client.
param.service_type = DM_PROTOCOL_CNTXT_GATT_CLI_ID;

// Secuirty parameters to be used for security procedures.
param.sec_param.bond = SEC_PARAM_BOND;
param.sec_param.mitm = SEC_PARAM_MITM;
param.sec_param.io_caps = SEC_PARAM_IO_CAPABILITIES;
param.sec_param.oob = SEC_PARAM_OOB;
param.sec_param.min_key_size = SEC_PARAM_MIN_KEY_SIZE;
param.sec_param.max_key_size = SEC_PARAM_MAX_KEY_SIZE;
param.sec_param.kdist_periph.enc = 1;
param.sec_param.kdist_periph.id = 1;

err_code = dm_register(&m_dm_app_id, &param);
APP_ERROR_CHECK(err_code);
 
 } 
 and then, my scan_start() function looks like this below. I always end up hitting the 'doscan = false' line as there is nothing in my whitelist. 
 static void scan_start(void)
 
 {
bool doscan = true;
ble_gap_whitelist_t whitelist;
ble_gap_addr_t * p_whitelist_addr[BLE_GAP_WHITELIST_ADDR_MAX_COUNT];
ble_gap_irk_t * p_whitelist_irk[BLE_GAP_WHITELIST_IRK_MAX_COUNT];
uint32_t err_code;
uint32_t count; 
 // Verify if there is any flash access pending, if yes delay starting scanning until 
// it's complete.
err_code = pstorage_access_status_get(&count);
APP_ERROR_CHECK(err_code);

if (count != 0)
{
 m_memory_access_in_progress = true;
 return;
}

// Initialize whitelist parameters.
whitelist.addr_count = BLE_GAP_WHITELIST_ADDR_MAX_COUNT;
whitelist.irk_count = 0;
whitelist.pp_addrs = p_whitelist_addr;
whitelist.pp_irks = p_whitelist_irk;

// Request creating of whitelist.
 
 err_code = dm_whitelist_create(&m_dm_app_id,&whitelist);
APP_ERROR_CHECK(err_code); 
 if (m_scan_mode != BLE_WHITELIST_SCAN)
{
 // No devices in whitelist, hence non selective performed.
 m_scan_param.active = 0; // Active scanning set.
 m_scan_param.selective = 0; // Selective scanning not set.
 m_scan_param.interval = SCAN_INTERVAL;// Scan interval.
 m_scan_param.window = SCAN_WINDOW; // Scan window.
 m_scan_param.p_whitelist = NULL; // No whitelist provided.
 m_scan_param.timeout = 0x0000; // No timeout.
}
else
{
 if ((whitelist.addr_count == 0) && (whitelist.irk_count == 0))
 {
 //we don't have a whitelist yet, don't scan at all.
 doscan = false;
 }
 else
 {
 // Selective scanning based on whitelist
 m_scan_param.active = 0; // Active scanning set.
 m_scan_param.selective = 1; // Selective scanning not set.
 m_scan_param.interval = SCAN_INTERVAL;// Scan interval.
 m_scan_param.window = SCAN_WINDOW; // Scan window.
 m_scan_param.p_whitelist = &whitelist; // Provide whitelist.
 m_scan_param.timeout = 0x0000; // no timeout.
 // Set whitelist scanning state.
 m_scan_mode = BLE_WHITELIST_SCAN;
 }
	}

	if(doscan == true)
	{
 err_code = sd_ble_gap_scan_start(&m_scan_param);
 APP_ERROR_CHECK(err_code);
	}
 
 }