Laura Varn has retired from her position as vice president of people & culture and communications at Parkland USA, the U.S. division of Canadian retailer Parkland Corporation, according to a LinkedIn post from Varn on Monday.
In that role, Varn was instrumental in shaping the culture of Parkland USA.
“As one of the first Parkland USA leaders, I’m proud to have helped grow the US division tenfold from 300 to 3,000 employees through 20 acquisitions, build the HR and Communications divisions from scratch, develop our culture, systems and processes nationally, establish a strong HR team, hire numerous executives and standardize many HR processes,” said Varn in the post.
Varn did not specify what day she retired, but her biography noted her time with Parkland ended this month. She said she is going into “semi-retirement” and plans to pursue other projects after taking a break.
Varn served in her VP position with Parkland for nearly six years, according to her LinkedIn biography.
Before joining Parkland, Varn worked for more than 12 years with South Carolina power company Santee Cooper, first as VP of corporate communications then as VP of human resource management. Other media relations and communications roles on her résumé include senior coordinator of media relations with energy company Southern Company, manager of corporate communications for Delta Air Lines and communications officer for the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority.
“I am most proud of developing strong leaders, implementing strategy and creating a caring culture, all in alignment with my values,” Varn wrote in her post.
Her announcement comes a couple weeks after Parkland said it would trim its U.S. operations by selling its Florida business. Parkland expects to find a buyer and complete the sale within 12 to 18 months. Its 100 retail locations represent nearly half of its company-operated footprint in the U.S.
Parkland did not respond to a request for comment by press time on Varn’s retirement.
