Sky's Fellet - our canniest CEO

John Selkirk

WINNER: BusinessDay readers have voted Sky TV's John Fellet New Zealand's canniest CEO.

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OPINION: BusinessDay readers have voted John Fellet New Zealand's canniest CEO but the Sky TV boss is not getting carried away with his victory.

Fellet, who has overseen the incremental growth of Sky over a number of years, pulled in 30.6 percent of the total vote after a flurry of late voting.

One reader said:  "Fellet is truly a quiet achiever; his strategic thinking has continually positioned Sky in a position of advantage in an arena that involves not only economic but also social and political imperatives. Could be NZ's best tight-rope walker?"

Fellet himself told BusinessDay his victory in no way eased the pain of "not ranking in the hottest top 250 CEOs" in the country.

"I also question the dependability of the poll," Fellet said.

"I think the statistical reliability of the poll is somewhere below the voting on Dancing with the Stars and above the Television Ratings."

Guinness Peat Group's New Zealand director Tony Gibbs was hot on Fellet's heels, coming in at second place with 28.3 percent of votes cast.

Gibbs was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to business in the New Year's honours this year.

Mainfreight boss Don Braid came in at third place with 19 percent of the votes, despite some vocal support from his fan base.

"Braid has business nous, [is a] great person, motivator, demands a lot from his employees and then respects them for their efforts. Just look at the way he looks after his team after the Round the Bays. Bring on leaders like him and NZ will sail through the current storm," one reader said.

NZX boss Mark Weldon came in fourth with 11.7 percent, followed by wine tycoon Jim Delegat with 10.5 percent.

Andrew Barclay of Goldman Sachs JBWere, Solid Energy's Don Elder and former Telecom CEO Theresa Gattung were among other names readers suggested BusinessDay could have included in the poll.

- © Fairfax NZ News