Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam reassumes role as CEO of Pilot Flying J

KNOXVILLE - Less than six months after hiring a top-ranking cola executive to run Pilot Flying J, Jimmy Haslam is moving back into the corner office.

The Knoxville-based chain of truck stops and travel centers announced today that Haslam is returning to the role of CEO. He replaces John Compton, the former PepsiCo president whose hiring was announced in September.

Haslam said Monday that he missed being CEO of Pilot Flying J, and noted that a team of executives has been hired to run the Cleveland Browns since he bought the team last year.

The change at Pilot Flying J, he said, was "not about John." "This is about me realizing my first love is running Pilot Flying J and wanting to return to that job," Haslam said.

Compton will work as a strategic adviser to Pilot Flying J, the Browns and the Haslam family.

The shift is a remarkable turn of events, particularly given Compton's previous stature as a corporate executive. The University of Tennessee graduate had worked at Pepsi since 1983 and had been considered a leading candidate to succeed the company's current chairman and CEO, Indra Nooyi.

He left that track in moving to Knoxville and taking the reins at Pilot, but Haslam indicated today that Compton was comfortable with the latest shift in responsibilities.

"John and I've had really positive conversations and I think we both feel good about the positions that we're both returning to or going to," he said.

In a news release, Compton said, "I am thrilled to work with Jimmy on the strategic opportunities facing our companies. I have greatly enjoyed working directly with the Pilot Flying J teams and look forward to assisting the Cleveland Browns as well. My family and I are proud to call Knoxville our home and we look forward to a long-term relationship with Jimmy and the Haslam family."

Pilot Oil Corp. was created in 1958 by Jim Haslam. His son Jimmy Haslam joined the board at age 20, while still a student at UT. The company has more than 600 retail locations and is the largest operator of travel centers and travel plazas in North America.

Asked about the likelihood that some people will see the move as a demotion for Compton, Haslam said "people will read into it what they want to."

He added that the key point is that the Haslam family has been involved with Pilot for more than 55 years and that when he stepped away he realized how much he missed running the business.

"It's not at all about John, it's more about Jimmy having a change of heart in terms of what he wanted to do … I realize people will look at it in different ways but that's the reality," Haslam said.