For our Top CEOs in Franchising feature in the November/December issue, we identified notable leaders who are guiding their brands through periods of growth, change and, of course, challenges.
After assisting with the sale of its products division, Valvoline CEO Lori Flees is leading the oil change brand into the future with stronger marketing and additional services.
Lori Flees took the CEO role at Valvoline only a year ago, but her connection to car-centric companies goes back decades.
Flees is originally from Michigan, a state known for its auto industry, and it was in that category where her career began. Her first job was with General Motors in the company’s truck division, and she went on to study engineering and management at GM Institute of Technology, now Kettering University, in Flint.
From those beginnings, Flees went on to earn her master’s degree from Harvard Business School before entering the world of consulting. For 18 years, she worked in the field at Bain & Company before shifting her career course by joining Walmart to head the brand’s corporate strategy.
In the role, Flees was involved in Walmart’s e-commerce growth initiative by developing online grocery shopping. Other roles at Walmart included time as senior vice president and chief operating officer for the company’s health and wellness division, which includes 4,800 pharmacies and 3,200 optical centers.
Her career path came full circle, though, when she took the position at auto services and products brand Valvoline, though it took some convincing.
“The brand was looking for someone with retail experience and they reached out,” Flees said. “I’ll admit, I wasn’t looking for the type of role Valvoline was offering, but after going to several locations and having friends and family around the country do the same and see what the experience was like, I was incredibly impressed by their consistency.”
“I couldn’t tell if they were company stores or franchise operated, either, they were all well managed,” she continued. “I also started meeting people from the company and I saw that they were humble, hungry and smart, which I loved.”
Flees saw a great deal of growth opportunity, both in terms of increasing the store count and the potential to add more technology to improve the customer’s digital experience. All of the above led her to becoming president of the retail services division for Valvoline Instant Oil Change in 2022.
It was a critical time to join the brand, as Valvoline was in the midst of going in a new direction. When Flees joined, the company had two divisions, its retail business, which she led, and the product side. In 2022, Valvoline was preparing the latter for a sale.
“I came on board after the company had announced it was separating the divisions,” Flees said. “To take this brand when there’s almost a new beginning for the company, it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”
In her initial role, Flees was part of the team that eventually sold the Valvoline global products business to Aramco for $2.6 billion. With the sale complete, Flees became Valvoline’s CEO in October 2023.
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As the leader of a brand with more than 2,000 locations, Flees said she’s established three priorities to move the oil change concept forward. The first is driving full potential from all the stores in the system.
“When we look at them, we could see differences in performance across the base of stores,” Flees said. “You can see that in new stores versus more mature ones, but even in common cohorts, there are differences in performance. That meant we had an opportunity to get better and bring the bottom quartile up.”
“It’s things like educating the guest on the services they need which typically maximizes the ticket,” she continued. “It’s also things around marketing. I think in our industry we are best in class from a marketing capability. But when you look across retail as a whole, we have opportunity for a better performance in digital marketing areas.”
The second part is growing the overall network. Flees said the brand takes up about 5 percent of the market share and the stores are available to about 30 percent of the population, meaning there’s plenty more white space.
The brand is reviewing its coverage areas and talking with franchisees to find the best places to expand company-owned stores and franchised units. The current ratio, Flees said, is 53 percent franchised and 47 percent company-owned.
“The third priority is looking at the future,” Flees said. “That includes examining additional services and the electrification of the car parc. It includes looking at the investments we’ll make using our existing assets to continue serving guests as their car choice evolves. We’ve already seen an evolution toward hybrids. We’ll continue to adapt our service menu and train our teams to serve whatever vehicle our customers choose to drive.”
To make the priorities a reality, Flees said a key part of her strategy is building good relationships with her team.
“At Valvoline, we have a mantra that it starts with our people,” Flees said. “When we create the right training, support and work environment, it creates a place that our customers get to benefit from. Great customer satisfaction is an outcome of good processes and taking care of your people. I think I learned that in consulting and even back at GMC Truck. When you focus on your people being successful, your business is successful.”