Sam Hamilton has been appointed chairman of HamiltonJet, the company announced, making him the fourth generation of his family to lead the marine waterjet manufacturer.
Hamilton, who has served on the board since 2019 and is the company’s technical director, succeeds his father, Mike Hamilton, who has chaired the board since 2000. Mike will remain involved with the company as governing director.
“My father had the role land on him with very little warning,” said Mike Hamilton. “I wanted Sam to take it on while I am still here to support him. He has the board, the leadership team and the family behind him.”
The leadership handover took place during an extraordinary meeting of the board, held at Irishman Creek Station in New Zealand, where Sir Bill Hamilton, Sam Hamilton’s great-grandfather, established the business in 1939. HamiltonJet is privately owned, with the Hamilton family holding majority ownership.
“HamiltonJet is a family business, and will remain that way,” Sam Hamilton said. “Bill built this company on resourcefulness, trustworthy engineering, resilience, and looking after people. Those values have carried us for more than eighty years, and can be seen in the way people here design, make, and back our products every day.”
“Dad remaining as governing director means we keep his experience while I learn the chair role, and I’m grateful for that. I intend to keep building on what he, the generations before him, and everyone working here today have made.”
Last year, Christchurch-based HamiltonJet opened an 80,000-sq.-ft. manufacturing facility that boosts its production capacity by 40% over previous levels.
