Bennetts has been a champion of bringing service back to the forecourts and improving retail stores as part of the overhaul of the brand. He's long been thinking about life beyond hydrocarbons, committing to a biofuel plant in South Auckland and last week announcing Z would install six rapid-charge electric vehicle charging stations at sites in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch by the end of February.
"If your people are fizzed-up and they know what to do to satisfy customers then that will lead to good shareholder returns," he said at the time of the awards.
Bennetts became chief executive at Z after 25 years with BP.
The Commerce Commission is considering Z's bid to buy Chevron's assets in the $785 million deal. The purchase would give Z about 49 per cent of the retail petrol station market.
Z claims 28 per cent of the transport fuels market against Caltex/Challenge's 21 per cent. Caltex turned over $2.24 billion last year, around 75 per cent of Z's turnover.
Bennetts has said leadership is a team effort. "All I try to bring to the table is to be myself. Nobody can be a better me than me.
"Generally people warm to having a leader they can connect with, somebody who is true to their own values and calls it as it is."
