SPRINGFIELD, MO — O’Reilly Automotive announced today that, effective immediately, Greg Henslee will be promoted to CEO/Co-president and Ted Wise will be promoted to COO/Co-president. Both have served as co-presidents of the company since 1999. Their promotions are part of a management succession plan.
David O’Reilly, current CEO and co-chairman of the board, will become the chairman. As chairman, O’Reilly will retain an executive management position with responsibility for overall strategic direction and will provide financial oversight and leadership support to the company. He will continue to chair the company’s finance committee, which consists of Greg Henslee, Ted Wise and Jim Batten, EVP and CFO.
Larry O’Reilly, currently the other co-chairman of the board, will serve as a vice chairman. Charlie O’Reilly, currently a director and vice chairman, and Rosalie O’Reilly-Wooten, a director, will continue to serve in their current capacities. As a result, the four O’Reilly family directors will continue to serve with the current prestigious group of five outside independent directors.
As CEO, Henslee will assume administrative responsibility for all corporate operations and will take the lead role in investor communications. Finance, merchandise/purchasing/inventory control, distribution, information systems, advancing technologies and corporate services will report directly to Henslee.
Henslee has been with the company for 20 years. He was hired by O’Reilly in 1984 as a parts specialist, and has held positions as assistant store manager, district manager and computer operations manager. In 1995, he was appointed vice-president of store operations and then in 1999 co-president.
As COO, in addition to working closely with Greg in an overall corporate role, Wise will continue to have direct responsibility for store sales/operations, store acquisitions, store expansion/real estate, advertising/marketing, risk management and human resources.
Wise has been with O’Reilly for 34 years and began his career in 1970 at the retail store level. In 1978, he became the company’s first district manager. In 1984, he was named the first O’Reilly vice-president, in charge of store operations, and in 1990, he was promoted to executive vice-president of store operations and sales. In 1999, Wise was named co-president.
Commenting on the succession plan, David O’Reilly, stated, “We have worked over the last few years to develop a succession plan to effectively and seamlessly transition certain leadership positions to team members who can carry on the O’Reilly tradition of excellence. Continuing our philosophy of promoting from within, we are proud to have qualified and capable leaders like Greg and Ted assume these new levels of responsibility. I look forward to focusing my leadership efforts towards implementing the strategic vision we have developed at O’Reilly,” he added.
Recognizing the strong industry experience in the company’s top leadership, Larry O’Reilly added, “We are confident in our management team and their ability to continue providing industry leading performance.
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