Dive Brief:
- HF Sinclair and its President and CEO Timothy Go have reached a separation agreement nearly three months after the chief executive took a leave of absence, according to a Tuesday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
- Go officially left Sinclair on May 11, according to the SEC filing. He also resigned from Sinclair’s board of directors and agreed that any position or role he had as an agent, officer or director of the company, its predecessors, subsidiaries or affiliates has ended.
- Sinclair’s Chairperson Franklin Myers became interim president and CEO when Go went on leave in February. A spokesperson from Sinclair did not respond by press time to comment and share if Myers has become the company’s permanent president and CEO.
Dive Insight:
Go stepped away from Sinclair — one of the top fuel distributors in convenience retailing — in late February after Executive Vice President and CFO Atanas Atanasov told the company’s board of directors that certain actions by Go “created an unfavorable ‘tone at the top’ in relation to Sinclair’s 2025 disclosure processes.” After an internal review with the support of outside legal counsel, the board developed separate concerns regarding Go’s communication approach during this period.
At the time, Sinclair did not specify what Go did to raise such concerns. By late March, Sinclair said it expected to permanently part ways with both Go and Atanasov, who also took a leave of absence in February. However, the company did not provide a timeline for their departures.
As of May 11, Go is officially out, while Sinclair has yet to reach a separation agreement with Atanasov, according to Tuesday’s SEC filing.
In the filing, the company emphasized that Go’s departure is “not due to any disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to the Company’s operations, policies or practices.” As part of the May 11 separation agreement, Go will receive a payout of over $4.7 million.
Before being named president and CEO in May 2023, Go was Sinclair’s chief operating officer for about three years, according to his company bio. Before Sinclair, he was CEO of Sinclair’s general partner Calumet Specialty Products Partners, an independent producer of specialty hydrocarbon products, for four years.
Go’s absence may complicate Sinclair’s next steps as the company charts significant growth under temporary leadership. Shortly after he stepped away in February, Sinclair launched a joint venture with c-store holding company UPOP Holdings that includes 30 new convenience retail sites across Colorado and New Mexico. As part of the joint venture, dubbed Green Trail Fuels, Sinclair will supply fuel from its regional refineries to all 30 c-stores while UPOP operates the sites. Sinclair will hold a 50% non-operating economic interest in the venture.
