Couche-Tard Executive Changes: Trey Powell Named Senior Vice President of U.S. Food and Retail Operations
Alimentation Couche-Tard announces several executive appointments: Trey Powell promoted to Senior Vice President of U.S. Food and Retail Operations, Hélène Drolet to oversee Canadian Food and Retail, and Gordon Lawlor to lead European Merchandise, Food, and Marketing. These changes come as the company advances its retail and food service expansion plans.
Key Takeaways
- Alimentation Couche-Tard has appointed Trey Powell as senior vice president of food and retail for its U.S. business, a company spokesperson confirmed to C-Store Dive.
- Powell, who has served as senior vice president of global merchandise at Couche-Tard since late 2023, will lead the company's food, merchandise, marketing, private brands, supply chain strategy, procurement, and sourcing efforts in the U.S., according to the spokesperson.
- Powell's promotion comes as Couche-Tard continues to emphasize its ambitious growth plans in retail and foodservice. The company plans to add 750 new stores to its convenience store network by 2031 and achieve record food revenue in the U.S.
Deep Dive
In a video shown to Couche-Tard investors earlier this week, Powell said that while leading the global merchandise business, he was tasked with optimizing how the company sources and distributes food to its retail stores at scale.
Over the past year, Powell said he helped Couche-Tard double the number of company-owned distribution centers serving its North American network and increased output from its central kitchen facilities. The latter supplies about 40% of the items in Couche-Tard's proprietary Fresh Food, Fast program and delivers non-perishable products to hundreds of stores.
That deep experience provides a strong foundation for Powell as he now leads the company's retail and food operations in the U.S., Couche-Tard's largest market with more than 7,300 stores. He will be responsible for helping Couche-Tard achieve its goal of growing U.S. food revenue four times faster than merchandise revenue.
According to his company profile, Powell has held roles in marketing and merchandising, store operations, procurement, and M&A during his 22-year career at Couche-Tard, including vice president of merchandising and operations, senior director of marketing, director of marketing and merchandising, director of retail operations, and director of national procurement.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Powell left Couche-Tard in 2013 to serve as vice president of marketing and merchandising at Tom Thumb, a Kroger-owned convenience store chain, and returned to Couche-Tard in 2015.
Powell's promotion is one of three executive changes at the top of Couche-Tard's national leadership team. The company also promoted Hélène Drolet to vice president of food and retail for Canada and appointed Gordon Lawlor as senior vice president of merchandise, food, and marketing for Europe, according to the spokesperson. Based on their LinkedIn profiles, Drolet has served as vice president of operational excellence for North America at Couche-Tard since late 2022, and Lawlor has been managing director of Circle K Norway since early 2024.
"This series of promotions reflects the different realities of the markets in which we operate, allowing us to make faster decisions closer to our customers, concentrate resources in each region, while continuing to leverage the scale of our overall business," a Couche-Tard spokesperson said in a statement to C-Store Dive.
The three executive changes follow the announcement that global senior vice president of food and marketing Mette Uglebjerg and senior vice president of strategy and transformation Niall Anderton will leave the company in May for other opportunities. A Couche-Tard spokesperson confirmed there are no plans to fill Powell's or Uglebjerg's positions but declined to comment on Anderton's role.