Couche-Tard Brings On Grocery Veteran as New CFO

LAVAL, Québec — After a three-month search, Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. appointed retail veteran Claude Tessier as its new chief financial officer. His appointment takes effect Thursday, Jan. 28.

Tessier joins the company from Canadian grocer Sobeys Inc., where he was president of the IGA operations business unit since 2012. He joined IGA in 2003 as vice president, finance and strategic planning for Sobeys Québec.

"I am excited to join the Couche-Tard family. Couche-Tard is one of the true success stories of Québec," Tessier said. "In addition to overseeing the financial, reporting and investor relations functions in Couche-Tard, I look forward to joining President and CEO Brian Hannasch in evaluating opportunities for further expansion under the new, global Circle K brand."

Prior to his position with IGA, Tessier held senior financial leadership roles — including CFO and vice president roles — with Fly Furniture, Provigo and Costco for 15 years. He also held management positions in Mallette International and PricewaterhouseCoopers (formerly Coopers & Lybrand).

"Claude has deep experience in large retail businesses and understands the reality of lean, multi-site environments — including service-station operations. He has a proven track record as the head of finance of a large, complex business and has experience with financing, acquisitions and capital markets in publicly traded companies," Hannasch said.

Tessier "is the ideal candidate to help Couche-Tard continue its strong growth and to continue adding shareholder value with us," he added. 

Couche-Tard began the search to fill its top financial role in October when former CFO Raymond Paré resigned from the position, as CSNews Online previously reported.

As of Oct. 11, Laval-based Couche-Tard's network comprised approximately 8,006 convenience stores throughout North America, including 6,579 stores offering road transportation fuel. Its North American network consists of 15 business units, including 11 in the United States covering 41 states and four in Canada covering all 10 provinces.

In Europe, Couche-Tard operates a broad retail network across Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden and Denmark), Poland, the Baltics (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) and Russia. Its European network comprised 2,217 stores as of Oct. 11, the majority of which offer road transportation fuel and convenience products, while the others are unmanned automated service stations that offer road transportation fuel only. 

In addition, about 4,700 stores are operated by independent operators under the Circle K banner in 14 other countries or regions worldwide.

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