He's been described as an inclusive leader who set the vision for what has been a great success story in the market for Z.
Infratil, in partnership with the New Zealand Superfund, engineered the joint buyout of Shell NZ's retail assets in 2010 for $696.5 million.
It was quickly rebranded as Z Energy and floated on the NZX in 2013 raising $860m on the sale of a 60 per cent stake, valuing the company at $1.4 billion.
The 55-year-old adroitly helped steer the deal through the Commerce Commission which in April saw Z being permitted to buy Caltex from $758m, creating a $3b company.
Last month Z announced an interim profit of $82m, up from $67m in the prior corresponding period and delivered just as the merger was starting to take effect.
"Doing the Caltex deal was a big achievement. At no point in time did we really know whether we had approval or not. I didn't know until 7.30 that morning when I got a phone call."
While the regulatory procedure was more drawn-out than Bennetts imagined, he stressed the merger had to be done for the right reasons.
"'We needed to have a genuine desire to put two companies and take the best of both rather than one dominating the other by way of acquisition. We've been very mindful of that. I think Z will be a better company from what we've learned from our Caltex colleagues."
Bennetts says the mechanics of the merger would be complete by now. From a combined staff base of around 450 about 30 people will lose their jobs.
''Most are happy to be moving on. I don't like having to fire lots of people who are really committed to the firm."
The oil industry veteran describes his own leadership style as being in the coaching mould. He led two-day induction courses for the 100 Caltex staff who are staying, to explain Z's values and there was a big ''housewarming'' function in Wellington.
"It's been very important for us to maintain employee engagement on the way through. That's usually what undermines the integrity of an acquisition. You get the balance sheet and P&L [profit and loss] benefits but the morale of the firm is scarred in such a way that it takes years to recover."
The Caltex brand will remain the same, largely because of the different operational models.
"With Z its mainly franchises with high levels of control from Z. For Caltex its mainly mum and pop-type operators. It would be hard to say to a whole bunch of Caltex operators you have to do things our way."
The merged companies have about 49 per cent of the fuel market giving it considerable buying clout and economies of scale.
Z has recently updated its cost reduction target to between $40m and $45m a year and is doing a range of strategy work to outline the greater choices it has as a larger company and that could mean tens of millions of dollars more in savings.
Back office work was no longer being done in the Philippines, there's been procurement benefits in the supply chain and administrative overheads have been cut by combining offices.
Besides commercial opportunities the bigger company also provides more scope to tackle climate change; something that also drives Bennetts.
"It does open up opportunities to do better things for New Zealand; the whole area of sustainability."
Z signed up to campaign last month asking the government do more to tackle climate change and is doing its bit with a large-scale biofuel project.
Although delayed, a $26m plant at Wiri which uses animal fat to make bio-diesel is about to move into commercial production.
It will produce about 20m litres of the product a year, which is mixed with mineral diesel to produce a 5 per cent blend.
The merged company sells about 2 billion litres of diesel a year so the green product is literally a drop in the bucket but it's a start and Z is confident the new blend, although two cents more expensive, will be commercially sustainable and can double its output quickly if required.
"You could argue we have done our bit but there is a lot more to be done. When this product comes to market in the new year we'll be giving New Zealanders from Taupo north the opportunity to choose low-carbon alternatives. Its a real test of New Zealanders'
commitment to the environment whether they are prepared to pay a couple of cents more for a product that lowers carbon by 4 per cent or not, " he says.
"To put that in context by the time we roll this plant out in January we will be taking carbon out of the system that is more than half of what the government's electric vehicle programme will do by 2021. We can do it now, we can do it quickly ."
Bennetts was also the Deloitte Top 200 Chief Executive of the Year where judges said he had a long record of strong performance.
"He is an inclusive leader, leads from the front, and has delivered outstanding results for Z, not just in the last 12 months, but in prior years as well," said judge Neil Paviour-Smith.
"He is an authentic leader. He is clear with his strategies and he is setting the company up for many successful years ahead."
Bennetts says that while his is a transport energy company like many competitors it has no upstream oil production assets so was not wedded to fossil fuels.
Right now most New Zealanders wanted petrol or diesel so his company met that demand.
That would change though.
"We certainly think that electric vehicles will be a significant part of the New Zealand market certainly as you get into the next decade, certainly towards the end of that decade."
But biofuel would also be a big feature of the alternative fuels mix both on the ground and in the air.
"If we can crack the technology around biojet because that's one part of the fossil fuel chain where demand is growing significantly even if it's dropping off for petrol and diesel [cars and trucks] because of electric vehicle production."
His company was also the foundation supporter of the successful SingularityU event in Christchurch, where visiting speakers shared ideas with about 1400 attendees on how to adapt and thrive in an 'exponentially' changing world.
"Z is for New Zealand and that is more than just covering ourselves in the flag and I think the investment in the summit was a good example of that.''
In the coming year he expects more business leaders to get involved in social and
environmental issues.
"They're talking about that. There's more of a momentum around that in the business community."
