Viva Energy Group Ltd told the ASX on Monday that Jevan Bouzo will resign as chief executive of its Convenience and Mobility division after leading the merger of Coles Express, OTR Group and Liberty Convenience into Australia’s largest fuel-and-retail network. Group chief executive Scott Wyatt said the exit follows completion of the critical consolidation phase and leaves enough runway for an interim leader before the spring trading peak, while a permanent retail head with deep sector experience is recruited.
Who is leaving and when
Bouzo joined Viva’s executive team a decade ago, serving as group chief financial officer and chief operating officer before taking the convenience chief role three years ago. He oversaw the Coles Express purchase, the OTR acquisition that supplied the premium convenience template, and the March 2025 buyout of the remaining Liberty Convenience sites. Viva said he will support transition through year-end; his long-term equity grant for 2024–28 will lapse in full, according to the ASX filing.
Bouzo said serving more than three million customers weekly after stitching disparate banners together was the highlight of his tenure. Wyatt thanked him for establishing scale no single legacy banner could match alone.
Interim leadership and group oversight
Jennifer Gray, group chief operating officer, becomes interim Convenience and Mobility CEO immediately. Gray has more than 25 years in fuel and convenience retail, including board representation for Liberty until Viva completed that acquisition. Wyatt will remain personally accountable for retail strategy execution and long-term targets, signalling that the board treats the leadership gap as operational rather than strategic retreat.
Viva stressed there are no changes to previously communicated outlook or priorities, including the OTR conversion pipeline and synergy capture from unified supply chains.
From integration to consolidation
Investor materials presented in May described 2025 as the year Viva moved off transitional services agreements, consolidated head-office functions, and began capturing synergies expected to reach a $30 million annual run rate. Half-year results released in August said 15 OTR stores were open and trading well, with a pipeline supporting 20 to 25 conversions each quarter through 2028. Liberty added 92 sites, diversifying the footprint toward fuel-led consumers.
The leadership change wording emphasises that heavy integration lifting—merging support centres, shifting fuel supply, retiring Coles Express operating models—is largely done. What remains is repetitive store conversion work, landlord negotiations, and cost-out reinvestment as some central savings are pushed back into field teams to drive sales growth from 2026.
OTR program economics
Viva told shareholders conversion costs were falling as teams reused learnings, while illicit tobacco pressure and non-cash site impairments still hit reported retail earnings. The company expects 25 new OTR openings in the fourth quarter of 2025 and continues to test Liberty-format conversions in selected markets. None of those metrics shifted with Bouzo’s departure announcement; analysts read that as confirmation the program stays on the same Gantt chart.
Competitors Ampol and EG Group watch conversion speed because a thousand-site network reshaped toward food-led missions can take share in commuter corridors. Viva’s scale argument rests on supply-chain density and the OTR product template, not any single executive name.
What investors watch next
The search for a permanent convenience CEO will test whether Viva can attract supermarket or global convenience talent willing to run a capital-heavy retrofit program. Interim appointments sometimes stretch if candidates demand clarity on conversion ROI; Gray’s operating pedigree reduces that risk near term.
Shareholders will also monitor Christmas trading volumes and fuel margin volatility, which can swamp integration narratives in quarterly numbers. Wyatt’s direct involvement may accelerate decisions on underperforming legacy Express sites awaiting OTR capex.
Workforce and franchise partners
Store teams were told the OTR conversion schedule is unchanged in town halls held after the ASX release, according to people familiar with the briefings. Franchise and landlord partners wanted reassurance that sign-off timelines for 2026 openings would not slip while recruiters run a global search.
Union coverage varies by banner, but national enterprise agreements tied to fuel retail still face wage inflation pressure. A leadership handover during peak trading season raises the stakes for roster stability; Gray’s retail operations background is the company’s answer to that concern.
Board perspective
For Grant’s business desk, the filing reads as institutional housekeeping after a defined integration milestone. Viva bought three retail cultures; Bouzo’s team merged them; consolidation now means repeating a playbook site by site. The exit does not unwind the strategy—it shifts the org chart from deal makers to conversion operators, with Wyatt holding the narrative until a permanent retail chief arrives.