Leadership

Berkshire Hathaway changes leadership of its new restaurant holding

Warren Buffett's holding company has named two of its veterans to top posts at Pilot Co., the 790-restaurant travel plaza operation.
A Pilot-brand travel center. / Photo: Shutterstock

Berkshire Hathaway has appointed two veterans of its executive team to top posts at newly acquired Pilot Co., strengthening the holding company’s control of the 790-restaurant travel-stop operator.

Effective May 30, Adam Wright will join Pilot as CEO and Joe Lillo will come aboard as CFO.

They will succeed Shameek Konar and Kevin Wills.

Wright has logged more than two decades in the energy industry, one of the fields where Berkshire Hathaway has a strong presence through its holdings.

Similarly, Lillo has more than 25 years of experience with Berkshire Hathaway’s energy operations.

The appointees’ energy experience reflects Pilot’s plan to develop a network of electronic-vehicle charging stations across the United States.

A controlling interest in Pilot was acquired by Berkshire Hathaway, the holding company run by Warren Buffett, at the end of January.  A 20% stake in the concern was retained by its founders, the Haslam family. Two members remain on Pilot’s board.

The company operates two of the nation’s largest travel-center chains, Pilot and Flying J. The brands collectively have 870 locations in 44 states and six provinces of Canada.

Each usually sports a variety of quick-service and full-service restaurants under a variety of brand names.

Berkshire Hathaway is no stranger to the restaurant business One of its holdings is Dairy Queen, the venerable fast-food and ice cream brands.

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