As 2024 came to a close, the convenience store industry didn’t see as much executive turnover as it had in earlier months. Still, a few notable moves occurred in December, including multiple retailers naming new presidents.
Below is more information on those moves. And here’s our executive roundup from November, in case you missed it.
Parkland’s CFO takes over North America operations
Parkland Corporation named Chief Financial Officer Marcel Teunissen as president of North America, effective Jan. 1. Teunissen now oversees Calgary, Alberta-based Parkland’s operations in the U.S. and Canada, where it has a combined 1,000 company-operated convenience stores and 1,640 dealer sites.
Teunissen became president of North America after spending the past four years as Parkland’s finance chief. He joined Parkland after a 23-year career with Shell, where he worked in global finance and energy operations.
Brad Monaco, the company’s vice president of finance in Canada, has been named interim CFO while Parkland searches for a permanent replacement.
Crossroads owner names new president and a new CMO
Houchens Food Group, which operates about 20 Crossroads IGA and Express convenience stores across Kentucky, Indiana and Tennessee, named Greg Rush as president.
Rush has held several roles with Houchens since 2009 and became the company’s chief marketing officer and vice president of merchandising in 2021. Other positions he’s held with Houchens have included convenience category manager, merchandising manager and director of merchandising.
Craig Knies, Houchens’ VP of retail operations, North division, replaced Rush as CMO and also took over as senior vice president of merchandising. Knies has spent the past 16 years with Houchens in roles across operations, sales and merchandising.
KornerStore CFO to spearhead new Minnesota-based chain
Sharee Johnson, CFO for the Minnesota-based KornerStore c-store chain, was named president and CEO of Great Plains Oil Company, a new company being partially funded by KornerStore and doing business as Little Store convenience stores, Johnson and KornerStore CEO Derek Medved confirmed to C-Store Dive.
Johnson will spearhead Little Store, which has six locations under contract and is expected to open its first two stores this month. Those sites will be located in Northern Minnesota, while other locations are planned for Wisconsin, Montana and the Dakotas.
Johnson said that Medved acquired the Little Store name several years ago but had yet to use it. Johnson — who has been CFO of KornerStore since 2014 — will be leasing the Little Store name from Medved as she leads the new chain.
Wills Group taps Wawa veteran as CFO
The Wills Group, parent company of Dash In convenience stores, hired Thomas Rachubinski as its chief financial officer and EVP of finance and administration. He replaced Kenneth Halperin, who retired from the La Plata, Maryland-based company after 13 years.
Rachubinski now oversees the financial health and sustainability of The Wills Group family of companies, including Dash In, which has 55 stores; car wash arm Splash In, with more than 55 sites; and fuel distribution firm SMO Motor Fuels, which serves over 220 locations.
Before joining Wills Group, Rachubinski spent 16 years in a variety of finance and risk management roles with Wawa. He most recently served as that company’s senior director of finance and corporate controller. His other roles with the retailer included assistant controller and risk finance manager.
