Parkland Corporation has named Francis Lapointe as its new vice president of retail for Canada, according to a Sept. 5 LinkedIn announcement from Lapointe.
Lapointe has left his position as vice president of operations for Alimentation Couche-Tard’s Circle K business in Texas, a role he held since March 2022, in taking this position, according to his LinkedIn profile.
In his LinkedIn profile, Lapointe notes that his role with Parkland began this month. A spokesperson from Parkland did not respond by press time to an inquiry for more details on Lapointe’s hiring.
Lapointe brings two decades worth of retail experience to his new role at Parkland, nearly 10 years of which were spent with Couche-Tard.
Prior to his most recent role leading Circle K’s operations in Texas, Lapointe was vice president of alternative channels for Couche-Tard for about a year and half. He also was vice president of operations for Couche-Tard’s Quebec West region between 2012 and 2018.
Beyond convenience stores, Lapointe has years of experience across several retail sectors. He worked for food and pharmacy retailer Loblaw Companies Limited for over nine years, where he held positions such as vice president of exploitation, group director and district director.
Lapointe has also worked for malt beverage vendor Geloso Beverage Group — where he was executive vice president — as well as hardware retailer Lowe’s Canada, where he was regional vice president of operations.
With 1,860 stores in its Canadian network, Calgary, Alberta-based Parkland is the largest independent fuel retailer and second-largest c-store operator in Canada. In the U.S., Parkland supplies fuel to independently owned gas stations and operates 212 c-stores under a variety of banners, including On the Run, Rhinehart Oil Hart’s, Superpumper, and KB Express.
