BRENTWOOD, Tenn. — Delek US Holdings Inc. has announced a leadership succession plan and a series of additional leadership appointments and updates in its Delek US and Delek Logistics Partners LP businesses.
In top leadership, Ezra Uzi Yemin, chairman and chief executive officer of Delek US and president of Delek Logistics, will transition to the role of executive chairman of the Delek US board of directors, the company said. Yemin will continue as chairman of the Delek Logistics board. The company’s board has approved the appointment of Avigal Soreq, who currently is chief executive officer of El Al Airlines, as president and CEO of Delek US and president of Delek Logistics. These changes will become effective in June.
Yemin has served as chairman of Delek US since 2012, as CEO since 2004 and as president and a director since 2001. Under his leadership, Delek US has grown from a retail convenience-store operator into a fully integrated downstream energy company with assets located along the Gulf Coast region, including four refineries, a midstream footprint, biodiesel plants and retail c-store locations, the company said. As executive chairman, Yemin will help oversee the company’s strategic direction and innovation efforts.
“As CEO, Uzi has helped position the company for the future by implementing a plan to diversify our business model and earnings mix and leverage our strong cash flows and balance sheet to expand our midstream platform,” said Shlomo Zohar, lead independent director of the Delek US board. “He also played an integral role in navigating the business through a difficult COVID environment while maintaining safe operations, continuity of products and services, and an improved cash flow profile. We look forward to continuing to benefit from Uzi’s perspectives as executive chairman.”
Recognizing Avigal Soreq as the incoming president and CEO of the company, Zohar said, “Avigal brings a balanced combination of first-hand insight into our operations as well as outside executive perspective that we believe make him uniquely positioned to lead our organization. Our board is confident Avigal is the right person to drive our next chapter of growth and help achieve our full potential.”
Yemin said, “I couldn’t be more proud of the progress we’ve made laying the foundation for the future. In addition to expanding our platform and simplifying our structure over the years, we’ve successfully executed a plan to drive innovation, diversify the company’s assets, and optimize costs, which has in turn enhanced our competitive position within the industry and enabled us to weather challenging macroeconomic headwinds. We have a solid foundation in place, and as we emerge with strength from the pandemic-driven downturn, the board and I are confident that this is the right opportunity to welcome our next generation of leadership. Avigal knows Delek US well, having helped establish our operational capabilities and grow our business significantly in his prior role as our chief operating officer.”
Additional Leadership Appointments
In other Delek leadership news:
- Effective immediately, Todd O’Malley, currently executive vice president and chief commercial officer, has been named chief operating officer of Delek US and Delek Logistics.
- Nithia Thaver, currently senior vice president of refining, has been promoted to executive vice president and president of refining at Delek US.
- Leonardo Moreno, an experienced executive in the global renewable energy and technology sector, has been appointed as an independent director to the Delek US board, effective immediately. With this appointment, the board has been expanded to eight directors, seven of whom are independent and three of whom are diverse, fulfilling the company’s objective of at least 30% of the board comprising diverse members by 2022, the company said.
Delek US Holdings, Brentwood, Tenn., is a diversified downstream energy company with assets in petroleum refining, logistics, renewable fuels and convenience store retailing. Delek US and its affiliates own approximately 79% (including the general partner interest) of Delek Logistics Partners, a growth-oriented master limited partnership(MLP) focused on owning and operating midstream energy infrastructure assets. The c-store retail business operates approximately 250 convenience stores in West Texas and New Mexico.
Delek US is No. 31 on CSP’s 2022 Top 40 Update to the 2021 Top 202 ranking of U.S. c-store chains by store count. Watch for the full 2022 Top 202 ranking in the June issue of CSP magazine and on CSP Daily News.
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