NZ Open’s amiable host

• Published date: 29 February 2024
• Publication title: Mountain Scene

BRIAN Howie says leaving the Scottish whisky industry to join Millbrook in 2008 made him ‘‘one of those unique people’’

‘‘I don’t know anybody else who actually leaves the industry.’’

Raised in Glasgow, Scotland, he studied hotel management at a university there before doing post-grad studies in human resource (HR) management.

Howie then took up HR roles in manufacturing and construction before becoming HR director for Morrison Bowmore Distillery.

That was owned by Japanese drinks conglomerate, Suntory, which had connections with Japan’s Ishii family who own Millbrook.

‘‘That was part of the reason I was able to get the job [of HR director] at Millbrook.

‘‘We came straight from Glasgow to Queenstown without having been in New Zealand before’’ — ‘we’ including his wife, Alison, and their two boys.

‘‘It was a bit of a shock to the system,’’ Howie admits, ‘‘but there were a lot of similarities in employment law between UK...