Several regional c-store chains made big moves at the top of their executive structures in June.
Here’s a recap of some c-store executive moves from last month. And here’s our executive roundup from May, in case you missed it.
Refuel appoints co-CEOs
Refuel promoted Travis Smith and Jon Rier, formerly its co-presidents, to co-CEO roles starting July 1. They replaced founder Mark Jordan, who has become board chairman.
Smith has led Refuel’s acquisition-based growth strategy since co-founding Refuel alongside Jordan in 2016, initially serving as chief development officer and general counsel. Prior to Refuel, he spent three years on Sunoco’s acquisitions team.
Rier, who joined Refuel in 2019 as chief financial officer, previously spent 14 years with RaceTrac in various leadership roles, including senior director of financial planning and analysis and senior director of fuel transportation.
Stewart’s COO promoted to president
Stewart’s Shops Chief Operating Officer Chad Kiesow took over as president of the family- and employee-owned convenience store chain at the start of June.
Kiesow joined Stewart’s in 1994 after the company acquired the Bonfare convenience store chain. He began managing Stewart’s gas department and moved to vice president of facilities prior to becoming COO in early 2024.
CEO Gary Dake said Kiesow’s move to president was three years in the making.
Fresh Stop names new president, CFO
Fresh Stop convenience stores named Matt Pickelsimer as president and Kelly Bacon as chief financial officer.
Pickelsimer brings over two decades of leadership experience spanning the c-store, restaurant and car wash industries to Fresh Stop, included spearheading sales and operations at car subscription service Mammoth Holdings. He also spent nearly six years in fuel pricing and market management roles with 7-Eleven and nearly three years as director of sales and operations at Murphy USA.
Bacon joined Fresh Stop after spending nearly five years as a controller with The Wills Group, parent of Dash In convenience stores. Prior to that, she worked for five years as director of accounting for East Coast c-store retailer Royal Farms.
Love’s adds chief technology officer
Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores has named Tim Langley-Hawthorne as its first chief technology officer.
Langley-Hawthorne is responsible for aligning technology with the company’s strategy, driving product development and fostering tech innovations, including artificial intelligence. He reports directly to Love’s President Shane Wharton.
Langley-Hawthorne joins Love’s from car rental company Hertz, where he served as executive vice president and chief information officer since 2021.
Nouria changes tech leadership
Nouria promoted Abhi Patel to vice president of information technology a few days after the retailer’s longtime chief information officer, Doug New, retired in June.
Patel joined Nouria as an assistant store manager over two decades ago and had been the company’s director of IT since early 2018.
New, who served as CIO for five years, rolled out a company-wide enterprise resource plan and shaped the retailer’s IT infrastructure during his tenure.
Circle K names VP of US merchandising
Alimentation Couche-Tard, parent of Circle K convenience stores, named Kurt Fraschetti vice president of U.S. merchandising.
Fraschetti joined Couche-Tard in late 2015 as a category manager and has worked his way up the company’s marketing and merchandising department over the past decade. He has been head of North America merchandising since late 2022 and was director of U.S. merchandising for a year before that.
S&G Stores makes multiple exec moves
S&G Stores named Keith Broviak to succeed Neal Frandsen, vice president of marketing, when the latter retires in 2026. Frandsen will shift to “handle special projects” once Broviak is comfortable enough to fully take over the position. This shift will likely occur in January, Frandsen said.
Broviak has worked in the convenience retailing industry for nearly three decades. He spent 20 years as director of marketing for Ricker Oil and also served as chief marketing officer for Coen Oil between 2019 and 2024.
S&G also named Aaron Hirt as director of foodservice. Hirt is responsible for revamping S&G’s proprietary On The Go Bistro program as well as bringing new fried chicken, pizza and sandwich offerings to some of the retailer’s remodeled stores. He joined S&G after nearly three years with food and beverage company AVI Foodsystems, according to his LinkedIn bio.
