Westlake, Ohio — TravelCenters of America Inc. has commenced a company-wide reorganization, which is a key step in the company’s strategic, long term plan to improve its operational efficiency and profitability.
The reorganization plan includes significant leadership changes with the addition of new senior vice presidents for a newly created hospitality department — under which the areas of restaurants, gaming and convenience stores will be consolidated — as well as in information technology.
TA has also appointed a new senior vice president of corporate development, a new department initially tasked with delivering on the company’s re-organizational initiatives. Key among these initiatives is the creation of a centralized procurement group to drive economies of scale in pricing, provide increased leverage in vendor negotiations and ultimately lead to substantial purchasing savings and a streamlined operation. Other key initiatives are focused in areas of opportunity for realizing both costs savings and increased revenues, including merchandising in the convenience stores, over-the-road delivery, truck repair training and staffing and IT systems.
In addition, as part of its reorganization plan, TA is reducing its corporate headcount by a total of approximately 130 and eliminating certain positions.
CEO Jon Pertchik joined TA in December 2019. “By reorganizing and enhancing our leadership team,” he says, “we have taken the first formal steps in executing TA’s turnaround by repositioning management, redefining management roles and operating focus, and strategically adding new management who bring new and valuable experiences, skills and outlooks to TA, while also focusing on right-sizing historical SG&A growth, which has significantly outpaced revenue growth over the past decade. I am confident that the team that we now have in place is the one to take TA forward.”
Kevin Kelly has joined TA as senior vice president, hospitality (retail, restaurant, gaming). Most recently, he was with Delaware North, a global food service and hospitality company. His most recent role was as president of Travel Hospitality, in which he led a subsidiary consisting of over 250 foodservice and retail locations in 19 airports and oversaw the construction of 120 locations.
Dennis King has joined TA as senior vice president, corporate development. King was most recently an associate partner at McKinsey & Company. He has over 15 years of experience leading transformations in retail and consumer companies.
Sandy Rapp has joined TA as chief information officer/senior vice president, information technology. She is an information systems and business executive with over 30 years of experience in software development, consumer products, IT consulting, financial and manufacturing industries. Most recently, Rapp was chief information officer at the Timken Company.
TravelCenters of America Inc. is the nation’s largest publicly traded full-service travel center network. Founded in 1972 and headquartered in Westlake, Ohio, it has more than 21,000 employees who serve customers in over 260 locations in 44 states and Canada, principally under the TA®, Petro Stopping Centers® and TA Express® brands. TravelCenters of America operates nearly 650 full-service and quick-service restaurants and 10 proprietary brands, including Quaker Steak and Lube®, Iron Skillet® and Country Pride®. For more information, visit www.ta-petro.com.
SOURCE: TravelCenters of America Inc.