Started in 1984 by Dr Roger and Anne Hill, Hill Labs has grown to become New Zealand’s largest privately owned analytical laboratory. They use the latest technologies to supply a broad range of laboratory tests to domestic and international markets in the agricultural, environmental and food industries.
Jonno has spent his entire career working in the company his parents founded, but neither he nor his parents really saw him coming to join the family business when he was younger.
“It was not until I was six months before finishing my PhD that I even considered it, to be honest. It seems crazy in hindsight because it’s gone so well,” reflects Jonno.
Taking on the managing director role in 2018, Jonno says it’s been a wonderful exercise in experiencing intergenerational family business and the persistence of culture.
“Company culture and values accrue around the people who are leading the business. Hill Labs was my parents’ business, and so the culture and the values reflect the things that they cared about. Of course, growing up I was also strongly influenced by those same values held by my folks, and so I think that’s maybe why the company just feels like it fits so well. It almost felt like coming home when I joined the business,” says Jonno.
