Couche-Tard appoints new Chief Digital Officer and SVP of Operations

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Alimentation Couche-Tard, the parent company of Circle K convenience stores, was Erica Fortune as new Chief Digital Officer last month, according to the c-store retailer’s website.

The company’s website states that prior to joining Couche-Tard, Fortune served as chief product management officer and senior vice president of e-commerce at auto retailer Advance Auto Parts. Prior to that, Fortune served as senior vice president of e-commerce at home improvement discounter Big Lots, where she drove omnichannel transformation and built the company’s e-commerce platform.

Fortune’s LinkedIn biography states that she spent eight years at Big Lotswhere she also served as vice president of e-commerce and director of e-commerce merchandising. According to her LinkedIn bio, Fortune has also held e-commerce and merchandising leadership roles at Bath & Body Works and apparel companies Express and The Limited.

A Couche-Tard spokesman declined to provide details about Fortune’s appointment as the new chief digital officer.

Fortune’s hiring comes about a year after Couche-Tard began scaling back many of its technology-focused activities, including Closure of the global innovation team and signed a $281 million contract with outsource your IT services for the next decade. Couche-Tard was also Expected launch of a virtual convenience store last winter as part of a management course at Toronto Metropolitan University, but there is no evidence that this actually happened.

In addition to Fortune’s hire, Couche-Tard also promoted Mark Ostoits to senior vice president of operations last month, according to its website. In his new role, Ostoits – who previously served as VP of The southeastern region of Couche-Tardaccording to his LinkedIn bio – manages Couche-Tard’s C-stores in the Western United States, the company’s website says.

Ostoits joined Couche-Tard in 2015 when the retailer acquired Kangaroo Express, a subsidiary of The Pantry Inc., where he was senior regional director. He held this position for almost 12 yearsaccording to his LinkedIn bio. Earlier in his career, he spent over six years as a regional sales manager for Swifty Serve Convenience Stores, which sold its approximately 500 C-Stores in 2002 as part of the insolvency.

A spokesman for Couche-Tard declined to provide details about Ostoits’ promotion.

Couche-Tard, based in Laval, Quebec, operates more than 7,100 c-stores in the United States. It is the second-largest c-store company in North America after 7-Eleven.