Parkland Corporation has announced the departures of Michael Christiansen and Marc Halley from its board of directors, effective Dec, 31, 2023.
This ends a seven-month run on Parkland’s board for Christiansen and Halley, who were chosen by their employer, The Simpson Group — one of Parkland’s largest shareholders — to replace longtime members David Spencer and John Bechtold.
The move to place two Simpson executives on Parkland’s board coincided with another one of Parkland’s shareholders pressuring the retailer to split its c-store and fuel businesses and refresh its board of directors amid what the shareholder, Engine Capital, characterized as long-term underperformance.
Parkland did not specify why Christiansen and Halley left its board of directors, only noting that Simpson has waived its rights to the Board Nomination Agreement the companies made last year.
Parkland has already begun searching for their replacements, according to the announcement. It’s also in discussions with Simpson about its shareholder stake in the company moving forward.
"We have an independent Board that has unwavering confidence in the Company's strategy and the management team's capability to deliver shareholder value,” Steven Richardson, chair of Parkland's board of directors, said in the announcement.
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 operates 650 retail sites across Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Florida.
