Alimentation Couche-Tard, parent of Circle K convenience stores officially has a new president and CEO in Alex Miller. He is only the third CEO in the company’s 45-year history.
Couche-Tard named Miller — who had been the company’s chief operating officer since January 2023 — its new leader in June, with incumbent Brian Hannasch announcing he would move to a special advisor role. The shift had been in the works for the past year and a half and officially happened on Sept. 6.
Miller takes over at Couche-Tard during an unprecedented time for the Canadian company. The retailer is experiencing some of its biggest growth in recent memory, including coming off its $1.6 billion agreement to purchase GetGo Café + Markets, the convenience store arm of supermarket chain Giant Eagle. The company also made a bid to acquire 7-Eleven’s parent company, which may be harder than it originally anticipated after Seven & i rejected Couche-Tard’s offer.
Here’s some information on Miller’s background, which includes over a decade at Couche-Tard and leadership roles with other c-store and fuel retailers.
12 years and counting at Couche-Tard
Miller joined Couche-Tard in 2012 as director of fuels, real estate and facilities. That year was a particularly busy one for Couche-Tard on the real estate front, as it acquired 85 c-stores across five U.S. states and purchased Norwegian retailer Statoil Fuel & Retail for $2.8 billion.
Miller steadily climbed Couche-Tard’s ladder over the following 12 years, eventually becoming vice president of fuels, senior VP of operations and global fuels, EVP of commercial optimization and EVP of North America operations and global optimization.
As COO, Miller oversaw Couche-Tard’s North America, Europe and Asia operations, including its food program, merchandise procurement and supply chain activities in those regions. Couche-Tard has not named a replacement for Miller at the COO position, nor has it confirmed that it intends to.
In fiscal 2024, Miller took home over $4.2 million in total earnings as COO. Although the company has not yet revealed his salary and potential earnings in his new role, Brian Hannasch’s $14 million take-home pay in fiscal 2023 could indicate Miller is due for a substantial bump in the next fiscal year.
CrossAmerica stint
An overlooked piece of Miller’s career is his three-year stint as board chairman for Allentown, Pennsylvania-based CrossAmerica Partners, which currently has about 370 c-stores in the U.S.
In June 2017, Couche-Tard acquired since-discontinued c-store retailer CST Brands for $4.4 billion. CST had about 2,000 c-stores to its name, including CrossAmerica’s, which CST acquired in 2014.
Upon the closing of Couche-Tard’s deal with CST, Miller — who was Couche-Tard’s SVP of global fuels at the time — took on the additional responsibility of chairman of CrossAmerica’s board of directors. Fellow Couche-Tard executives at the time Jean Bernier, Claude Tessier and Gerardo Valencia were also appointed to the board.
While Miller was board chairman, CrossAmerica experienced significant growth. The company signed its since-discontinued lease and supply agreement with Applegreen, converted 60 CrossAmerica c-stores to the Circle K banner and acquired 100 c-stores in Alabama.
However, in November 2019, Couche-Tard sold all of its ownership interest in CrossAmerica to Joe Topper, who originally founded CrossAmerica in 2012. Miller, Bernier, Tessier and Valencia left the board shortly after.
Learning from Big Oil
Prior to joining Couche-Tard in 2012, Miller worked for BP for 16 years in various operational, supply, business development and strategy roles in the U.S. and Europe.
He spent eight of those years running retail operations across the Southeast, Midwest and Mid-Atlantic, while four were spent working on BP’s strategy and planning team in London. It was during this stretch that BP revealed its exit from the U.S. convenience store industry and sold its 700 locations. BP has since reentered the space.
Miller’s final four years with the oil giant were spent in Chicago, where he focused on fuel supply value chain optimization and business development.
Personal details
Miller resides in Lake Wylie, South Carolina. His legal name is Timothy Alexander Miller. He has a Bachelor’s degree in business management from Southern Illinois University.
