Our leadership

Anoop Singh is Awanui’s Chief Executive Officer, appointed when the Awanui Group was purchased by its current owners in November 2020. Anoop has been involved with our business since 2011 when he was the Chief Operating Officer for the international pathology division of Healthscope.

Anoop has held senior executive and director roles in the healthcare industry in the Asia-Pacific region (New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and India) over the past 33 years. His breadth of experience includes a strong understanding of the health sector, pathology operations, corporate governance, strategic health policy matters and Government relations.

Anoop holds a Bachelors Degree in Economics (honours), Masters degree in Economics, Masters in Business Administration (MBA) and is a CPA.

Brendon is the CFO of Awanui, bringing with him over a decade of extensive commercial experience in the food service and oilfield services industries across Europe, USA, and New Zealand. He began his career in audit at PwC before transitioning into commercial finance roles. Brendon is a Chartered Accountant in New Zealand.

Since joining Awanui in 2020, Sam has been a senior HR business partner and people leader throughout one of the most challenging and busiest times for the pathology sector. She brings broad and valuable experience across a diverse range of industries including healthcare, professional services, digital entertainment, and retail.

Sam has a proven track record of optimising organisational structures, refining processes, implementing effective policies and systems, and equipping managers and senior leaders with the essential skills to nurture and develop their teams.

In her Acting CPO role Sam is focused on building motivated, empowered and effective team members who are supported throughout their careers.

Sam holds a Bachelor of Commerce – International Business and Management from Victoria University of Wellington.

Nick joins Awanui from Australian Clinical Laboratories Group and brings over 38 years’ experience in the laboratory and health sectors, predominately in diagnostic pathology (human and veterinary).

Nick holds a Masters in Clinical Microbiology and Bachelors of Biomedical Science, and has a longstanding and well-established laboratory background, having worked in many departments. He brings a strong focus on creating sustainable customer orientated service and creating a supportive and rewarding culture for teams and businesses.

As a member of the Corporate Leadership Group, Nick works closely with the General Managers and Quality and Health & Safety departments.

Brent Glanville is the Chief Information Officer at Awanui, a role he has held since 2019. Before this he was the General Manager of Applications for Healthscope NZ for over a decade, and the head of IT at Southern Community Laboratories between 1995 and 2019.

This makes Brent one of NZ’s most experienced laboratory IT professionals, in a career that has seen him lead the implementation of Laboratory Information Systems at 19 different sites across the country.

Working for over 25 years in the New Zealand pathology and health sector has enabled Brent to forge long established relationships with both vendors and key personnel within District Health Boards and the Ministry of Health.

Brent has a Bachelor of Science from Canterbury University.

Dr Richard Steele has extensive experience in laboratory services both here in Aotearoa and in Australia, returning to Awanui in 2022 as Medical Director, Clinical Pathology, and mid 2024 was appointed the Chief Medical Officer role.
Dr Steele has previously been Medical Director of Wellington SCL, and the New Zealand Vice President of the College of Pathologists Australasia.

He has experience in all aspects of clinical immunology and immunopathology including allergy, autoimmune diseases, primary immunodeficiency and HIV. Dr Steele has a particular interest in autoimmune disease including coeliac disease, neuroimmunology and quality assurance.

He is currently an examiner for the Royal Australasian College of Pathologists and also sits on the Medical Technical Advisory Committee for IANZ. He holds academic positions with the University of Otago (clinical lecturer) and Victoria University Wellington (Adjunct Professor).

Scott is the Awanui Chief Commercial Officer and responsible for the overall group growth strategy comprised of four key areas: 1) leveraging data and technology to deepen our core services, 2) developing new/adjacent services that leverage our customer base and network capability, 3) expanding into new areas via partnerships/licensing and 4) M&A activity.

Originally from the US, Scott relocated to New Zealand in 2015. He brings a strong background in strategy development, disruptive technologies, and new product development. His diverse skill set comes from hands-on experience with large multinationals (e.g., Microsoft, Amazon), and regional players (e.g., Z Energy and IAG) and in the start-up/venture capital ecosystem.

Heather has been with the group since 2021 and leads the Corporate Affairs function of the business including our internal and external communications, brand management, media, and public and government relations.  Prior to this, Heather built and operated a digital communication agency in Wellington specialising in health, property, IT, pest control and horticulture.

Over the past 12 years Heather has worked on public affairs campaigns with patient advocacy groups including Crohn’s & Colitis, Multiple Myeloma, CLL and prostate cancer. She brings a deep level of experience in supporting organisations to better use digital channels to engage, connect and build services.

Heather holds a Bachelor of Science in Biotechnology from Victoria University of Wellington.

Chris Davey moved to New Zealand in 2015 to lead the successful establishment of our integrated pathology services in the Wellington region. Chris has held the position of General Manager of Labtests and Northland Pathology, overseeing an extension to the 4 Northern Region DHBs contract until 2026.

Chris joined us from Healthscope in 2011 where she was the National Operations Manager, and responsible for pathology operations in Australia and procurement projects for Healthscope International Pathology.

With her background as a medical laboratory scientist, Chris has more than 40 years experience in multidisciplinary laboratories, providing services to hospital and community patients in both the public and private sectors.

Vicki has more than 30 years experience in public and private medical laboratories in NZ & the UK. Prior to becoming General Manager Vicki held a number of laboratory and management roles, most recently as Wellington SCL’s Laboratory Operations Manager, and before that as General Manager Corporate Services for Aotea Pathology.

Andrea is Awanui Labs General Manager for Te Waipounamu/ South Island region. Andrea has been part of the Awanui team for 19 years gaining broad experience in laboratory operations and management.

Prior to Awanui she worked in a variety of public and private hospital and community laboratories in Australia, the UK and New Zealand, developing extensive laboratory experience across multi-disciplinary roles.

Andrea‘s focus is to deliver an exceptional patient-centred diagnostic laboratory service and build a culture which puts the needs of patients and healthcare referrers first.

Andrea holds a Bachelor of Applied Science In Medical Laboratory Science.

Trevor English is the Head of Stakeholder Relations at Awanui. Joining the group in 2016, Trevor was Southern Community Laboratories Relationship Manager for five years.

With extensive leadership experience in both the New Zealand and Australian health sectors, he played a pivotal role in navigating Awanui through the challenges of the country’s testing response.

Trevor has active interests in science, technology, innovation, and information systems, particularly how their practical application and integration can lead to improved health outcomes.

Trevor holds post graduate degrees in science in Clinical Biochemistry and an MBA from Macquarie University.