Staff Profile: Samuel Brooks - Building High Performing Teams to Help Protect Public Health
Name: Samuel Brooks
Role: CEO – Hill Labs Inspection & Certification
Tell us a bit about yourself.
I have been married for 15 years to my wife Em, she is a speech therapist working with pre-school aged children with severe learning difficulties. I have two kids who are both at primary school. In my spare time I enjoy running trails with my Hungarian Vizsla, and recently we have been knocking off the great walks as a family.
What does your role involve?
I lead our Inspection and Certification business which has around 40 staff. Our role is to help protect the public from food borne illness and public health risks; we do this by supporting our customers to comply with relevant New Zealand regulations. Our team provide our customers with the “license to operate”. I get to work with amazing people, many with a deep subject matter knowledge and years of experience.
My role allows me autonomy to develop and deliver on strategy, which I love doing. Week to week I focus my time on shaping and executing operational improvements, overseeing financial performance, and driving growth out on the road with prospective and existing customers. I also have the benefit of working closely at a Board level for the Inspection and Certification part of Hill Labs which is something I really enjoy. The acquisition of our Dairy Auditing business was a highlight of the past year for me, providing New Zealand dairy exporters with an alternative auditing provider as they take their products to the world.
What first drew you to the type of work you do?
Back in 2006, I was initially offered a graduate role that very quickly moved into leadership, where I was responsible for more than 100 meat inspectors. Because of my colour blindness, I could never become qualified, which meant I had to find other ways to lead and add value. I learned early in my career that building strong relationships was a prerequisite to driving commercial outcomes. In the context of the primary sector, full of large companies with big ambitions, this seemed like an exciting place to be!
I’ve spent my career working alongside engineers, auditors and highly technical individuals, operating in environments shaped by the need for integrity with high expectations. I came to appreciate early on that I could connect technical knowledge with commercial considerations.
What part of your job do you enjoy the most?
What truly energises me is building high‑performing teams. Understanding people at an individual level, seeing their potential before they see it themselves, and placing them in roles where they can thrive. I get genuine satisfaction from watching others grow and ultimately surpass what they thought they were capable of.
What skills or qualities help you the most in your work?
I try to lead with empathy, guided by family values and a genuine appreciation for our staff. Combined with careful business decisions, this helps keep the business sustainable for the people who make it what it is.
What are you most passionate about in the sector or area you work in?
Protecting the public from food safety and environmental risks is a foundational meaning for the work we all do. The team take this point seriously, and I think it is most obvious when contrasting the standards of NZ food with other countries.
There is also an awareness of the broader role we play in supporting New Zealand’s reputation internationally. Issues that arise in certain areas can have implications beyond their immediate context, and experience has shown the importance of maintaining confidence and trust across the system as a whole.
What do you find most rewarding about your career so far?
Working with good people in a high performing culture is really motivating for me. There are patches of my career where we have had what feels like unstoppable business momentum, and a team where everyone is firing at the same time. I’ve been fortunate to experience phases of strong business momentum, with teams working seamlessly together, which are particularly satisfying.
