Empire Names Industry Veteran Dewbre as New CEO

DALLAS — Empire Petroleum Partners LLC has named industry veteran Rocky Dewbre as its new CEO. The appointment came as current CEO Hank Heithaus announced he is retiring Sept. 15.

"We have experienced great growth over my time here, as the company has grown from 414 million gallons to over 1.2 billion gallons. I think that there is a bright future for Empire," Heithaus said.

Dewbre joins Empire after serving on the board of directors of CST Brands Inc. The San Antonio-based operator of the Corner Stores convenience store chain was recently acquired by Circle K's parent company Canadian retailer Alimentation Couche-Tard. The $4.4-billion deal closed at the end of June.

As part of that deal — as directed by the Federal Trade Commission — Couche-Tard sold 70 retail gas stations to Empire. The stations are located in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, New Mexico, Ohio and Texas, as CSNews Online previously reported.

Prior to joining CST's board, Dewbre was CEO of Susser Petroleum Partners LP.

"I am excited to join Empire and look forward to continuing to build a team focused on serving customers and the continued growth of our business," Dewbre said.  

Dallas-based Empire is a leading motor fuels distributor of top brands including BP, Chevron, Citgo, ExxonMobil, Gulf, Marathon, Phillips 66, Shell, Sunoco, Texaco, and Valero. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Empire currently distributes more than 1.2 billion gallons of motor fuel products to over 1,500 gas stations in 29 states and Washington, D.C.

"We would like to thank Hank for his dedication to Empire over his tenure and are very proud of his contributions to Empire. In addition, we are very excited to have Rocky join Empire as its new leader," added Nandit Gandhi, chairman of the board of managers for Empire.