Lab Life

Forty year on he's at the helm of New Zealand's largest privately owned analytical laboratory, and credits his success to the strong cultural values instilled by his parents.

"Company culture and values accrue around the people who are leading the business," Jonno says. "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 influenced by those same values held by my folks... It almost felt like coming home when I joined the business."

It seems a natural fit, but Jonno was in the home leg of his PhD in organic synthetic chemistry before he considered it as an option.

“It seems crazy in hindsight because it’s gone so well,” says Jonno, who became Managing Director in 2018.

Four decades after his parents launched the business, Jonno is keen to preserve the things that underpin its success while embracing opportunities for innovation in primary industries and the environmental space.

“Innovation is almost like a magic trick – it’s one of the ways that you bring new value into the world,” he says.

Some of those innovations will be driven by technology, while others will come from being clever in established areas by finding new ways to work with partners and customers.

“I generally see challenge and opportunity as two sides of the same coin. I’m looking forward to seeing how our business will change over time, and I’m open minded as to who we could be, and what we could be doing.”

Meanwhile, he’ll hold on to the culture he and other longstanding team members value.

“I really love the idea of preserving, nurturing, and growing the legacy of my parents. It doesn’t mean that we’re frozen in time. The business does evolve, but it’s certainly an evolution rather than a revolution, we like to say.”