Julian Segal has announced he will step down as the chief executive of Caltex Australia.Credit:Ryan Stuart
"I’ve been with Caltex for 10 years,and I was CEO of Incitec Pivot for four years before that. The average life of a CEO is more like five years,but here I am 14 years later,” he said.
Mr Segal said he believed it was the right time for Caltex to appoint a"fresh"chief executive,and also the right time for him to pursue other passions.
"I do my job with passion,so that means there’s very little time for me to do other things. I’m 64,in good shape,and I’d like to spend a few years doing other things I am passionate about,"he said.
Caltex chairman Steven Gregg praised Mr Segal's contribution,which included a broad transformation of the company away from fuel production towards a quick service retail and convenience offering,including closing its Kurnell refinery in 2014.
The average life of a CEO is more like five years,but here I am 14 years later.
Caltex chief executive Julian Segal
Mr Segal has long supported a move into the convenience and retailing side of the business,predicting last year fuel income would"peter out"in 10-15 years.
Despite this,he believed his convenience strategy had been"miscommunicated",stressing the company was not ditching fuel as part of its business model,noting it still makes up 75 per cent of its profits.