Hunter scoops leadership award
Todd Hunter, chief executive officer of Turners Automotive Group, has been honoured for his leadership at the 2024 Institute of Finance Professionals (Infinz) Awards.
He won the Johnson Partners’ Leadership Award at the annual event held in Auckland this month, which was attended by about 750 guests.
Hunter, pictured at the gala dinner, was praised by the judges for Turners’ successful financial performance and its transformational approach to change and diversification at the business.
The company’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion within the organisation was seen as integral to that and has resulted in employee engagement scores ranking in the top five per cent of companies measured globally.
The judges also acknowledged Hunter’s personal and professional growth as a leader, which they say has translated into a strong culture and business performance.
“This leader is not afraid to embrace complexity and looks out for the right things to grow a strong culture internally operating the business upon the formula that a great employee experience gives the best chance of providing a great customer experience which combine to deliver great shareholder value,” they say.
“There is a strong alignment between the CEO and their personal brand and the organisation.”
Previous winners of the leadership award include Mark Cairns of Port of Tauranga, Grant Webster of Tourism Holdings and Don Braid of Mainfreight.
Johnson Partners says of the 14 companies and CEOs that satisfied the qualifying criteria for the 2024 award, only four achieved positive total shareholder returns.
Turners stood out after it reported revenue of $389.6 million in the 2023 financial year, a 13 per cent increase from the year prior with positive contributions from each of the company’s core divisions.
In December 2023, S&P Dow Jones Indices confirmed the business would be added to the NZX 50 Portfolio.
A total of 15 gongs were presented at the Infinz Awards with winners chosen by a panel of 44 experts, including fund managers and equity analysts.
UDC Finance was among the winners and picked up the NZ debt market issue of the year award for a $650m mixed pool asset-backed security transaction.
