Pilot Flying J, one of the largest privately held companies in the nation, announced that John Compton, president of PepsiCo, will assume the role of chief executive officer of the company.


Compton is a native Tennessean and a 1983 graduate of the University of Tennessee. Upon graduating from college, he began his PepsiCo career working at a Frito-Lay plant in Pulaski, Tenn.

He held numerous leadership positions at Frito-Lay, ascending to vice chairman and president of its salty snacks division. He later became chief executive officer of Quaker, Tropicana and Gatorade based in Chicago and in March 2012, was named president of PepsiCo, where he guided PepsiCo'sglobal business units and functions.

Jimmy Haslam, who has served as CEO of Pilot since 1994, will assume the role of chairman of Pilot Flying J and MaxumPetroleum. His father, Jim Haslam, who founded the company with one gas station in Gate City, Va. in 1958, will be titled founder and chairman emeritus.

Pilot Flying J and its recently acquired Maxum Petroleum have annual sales in excess of $30 billion. The combined companies employ over 25,000 people and conduct business in 44 states in the United States as well as six provinces in Canada.

Pilot Flying J is the largest operator of travel centers and truck stops in North America, and Maxum Petroleum is the largest supplier of diesel fuel to drilling rigs and hydraulic fracturing units in the United States, according to the company.