Circle K has a new head of mergers and acquisitions and business development as Aaron Smorodin has been promoted to the role, its parent company Alimentation Couche-Tard confirmed in an email to CoStar News.
Smorodin has assumed the new role at the convenience store and gas station chain that now has over 8,000 stores in North America and over 4,400 elsewhere. Circle K also is added 2,000 outlets in Europe last year, mostly in Germany but also in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.
Smorodin, now based in Charlotte, North Carolina, started at Couche-Tard as director of fuel operations for central Canada in 2016 at 25. He grew up in Saskatchewan and attended Carleton University in Ottawa.
Couche-Tard is headquartered in the Montreal suburb of Laval. Circle K was launched in 1951 in El Paso, Texas and was acquired by Couche-Tard in 2003 and still maintains its head office in Tempe, Arizona.
In his most recent role at Couche-Tard, he served as head of business development for global fuels and head of business development and North American eMobility for global fuels. Smorodin previously served as director of North American business development and director of North American sourcing and integration for global fuels.
Last month, Couche-Tard said Chief Operating Officer Alex Miller would succeed Brian Hannasch as CEO, effective Sept. 6. Hannasch plans to retire.
The announcement that it would bring on a new CEO came after Couche-Tard, a publicly traded company that grew from a single store in 1980, published earnings that were considered a disappointment by some analysts.
Couche-Tard Hannasch had a 400% increase share price and acquired almost 7,800 outlets over Hannasch's 10-year reign as CEO.