KEY POINTS:
"I don't do regrets," Theresa Gattung tells the media scrum gathered at Telecom House to mark her resignation. "I've done my best."
Despite the challenge of leaving a job she would do again "in a heartbeat", Gattung is smiling and reasonably relaxed.
The highest-profile New Zealand businesswoman of
her generation sits at the top table in her pale yellow jacket and matching shoes, flanked by chairman Wayne Boyd and chief financial officer Marko Bogoievski.
As the boss, she opens proceedings, gives the running order and when her turn comes, tells the upside of the Telecom story - that the mobile business is up again nearly 10 per cent.
The competitive streak that has marked her term gets the better of her. "I can't help myself," she says, leaning forward and smiling. "I can't help noting that for the eighth quarter out of nine we've beaten our competition."
Gattung speaks fast, constantly clasping and unclasping her manicured fingers, firing out the business language with an assurance of an executive who knows the territory like her own face. She defers often to Bogoievski, who speaks clearly and confidently.
At 44, he is a much cooler customer. But although he has the financial answers, the possible heir's ability to work the room and win the crowd may not come as easily as it does to Gattung.
The protege of Roderick Deane, who gave her the opportunity to make the leap from marketing, Gattung was always controversial. In the past year she made two major blunders: the first, when she was taken by surprise when Helen Clark broke open Telecom's monopoly nine months ago; the second, her explanation of the telco's calculated pricing "confusion". Since then she has been criticised as not up to the job - particularly for failing to see the change coming.
Then, when Deane quit nine months ago, her days were numbered. But although she acknowledges coming under more pressure over the past year, she does not complain. "That's part of the CEO job."
Nothing is going to get the 44-year-old Gattung down for long. Over and over she fields the same question: "Did you go willingly or were you pushed?"
Her answer: "Well, you know, I wasn't crowned emperor for life. I always saw the job as lasting five to seven years. By the time I leave in June I'll have done eight."
And although she will not talk yet about the future, some things are certain. She'll be riding her horses a lot. "You've got to do something to get the adrenalin going."
