Sorin Hilgen, EG America’s CIO & CDO on Convenience Store Digital Transformation

In an era where technology is reshaping every facet of retail, the convenience store industry might not be the first sector that springs to mind when you think “digital innovation.” Yet, behind the scenes of your neighborhood Cumberland Farms or Turkey Hill lies a sophisticated and fast-evolving tech ecosystem that’s quietly redefining convenience for millions of Americans.

Sorin Hilgen, EG America’s Chief Digital Officer and In-Country CIO, is leading this transformation. Since taking on these dual roles, Hilgen has orchestrated a sweeping overhaul of legacy systems, pioneered AI-driven loyalty programs, and hardened the company’s cybersecurity defenses — all while balancing the complex realities of integrating multiple acquired brands under one digital roof.

In this candid conversation, Hilgen pulls back the curtain on the challenges and triumphs of leading digital change in an industry where speed, convenience, and trust are everything. From navigating the delicate dance between old and new technologies to his unexpected leadership lessons learned along the way, Hilgen offers a rare glimpse into the future of retail and the innovation fueling it.

How it started: The career story behind EG America’s digital chief

Let’s start by taking a step back. I’d love to hear about your career journey. What key moments led you to become the Chief Digital Officer and In-Country CIO at EG America? How did those experiences shape the way you lead today?

Hilgen: I’ve always wanted to be in technology, but more specifically, at the intersection where technology meets business outcomes. That’s the space I’ve always found the most rewarding and impactful.

My career kicked off at a Citigroup subsidiary focused on emerging market research data. I primarily worked in infrastructure, but thanks to my development background, I also started automating internal tasks, which provided an early glimpse into how technology could drive efficiency. That mindset really took hold when I moved into the commodity trading world with Louis Dreyfus Company. There, I designed and managed a global messaging system connecting all our ag commodity trading offices worldwide. It was a crash course in real-time systems and global scale, where I really started to lean into how tech could streamline complex business operations.

One of the most pivotal moments came when I built a risk management system to support LDC’s Financial Risk Management (FRM) customers. It essentially helped manage their derivatives book. That project reinforced for me that when you understand both the business drivers and the technical levers, you can create systems that actually make people’s jobs easier and the business more resilient.

From there, I stepped into independent consulting.

That chapter let me apply everything I’d learned across a wide range of industries and enterprise environments. Eventually, I joined Gulf Oil LP as their CITO, where I led a major technology transformation effort to modernize legacy systems, migrating off the mainframe, and implementing a robust ETRM platform integrated with a modern ERP. That work gave us the agility and transparency that the business needed, and it became a real turning point.

Gulf was owned by Cumberland Farms when I was brought in to help consolidate the companies and modernize their tech. We launched SmartPay, the first mobile platform allowing customers to fuel and pay at the pump from their phones, a game-changer for the industry.

After EG Group acquired Cumberland Farms, I became the U.S. CIO for EG America and helped roll out a similar platform in Australia. Now, I lead both operations and innovation at EG America, focusing on enhancing customer experience and driving long-term value.

You’ve had quite the journey, albeit in a fast-evolving and often challenging space. What originally drew you into digital transformation and IT leadership, and what still motivates you today?

Hilgen: For me, digital transformation has always been inseparable from business transformation. Even early in my career as a hands-on technologist, I could see that the real impact of technology wasn’t in the code or the infrastructure alone. Still, it was in how it could reshape business models, improve customer experiences, and unlock new value.

What drew me in initially was the ability to solve meaningful problems. I’ve always had a builder’s mindset, and I found that digital tools gave me the levers to not just fix things but also reimagine how things could work better through faster processes, smarter decisions and more seamless customer interactions.

That connection between innovation and business outcomes is what keeps me motivated today. The pace of advancement in the retail space is incredibly energizing. Whether it’s AI-driven personalization, frictionless checkout, or predictive analytics for inventory and operations, we’re seeing technology fundamentally reshape what’s possible in our stores and for our guests.

What excites me most is the opportunity to keep pushing those boundaries. I see technology as a force multiplier. When used strategically, it doesn’t just improve efficiency, but it also helps you create entirely new value propositions. Being part of that ongoing evolution, where we can deliver real, tangible improvements for both the business and the customer, is what drives me every day.

How would you describe your leadership style if you had to sum it up in just one sentence? And how has that changed over time?

Hilgen: I’d say it’s collaborative and people-centered, but it’s about balancing empathy with accountability. Over the years, I’ve learned that both are equally important to getting things done.

I’ve learned that building high-performing teams isn’t just about setting direction. It’s about creating an environment where individuals feel heard, supported, and motivated to contribute their best. I invest time in understanding what drives each person because you unlock incredible results when you align individual motivation with collective goals. That’s where I focus: fostering trust, creating clarity, and instilling the right sense of urgency and rigor to help the team consistently deliver excellence. My style has matured from being hands-on and directive early in my career to now acting more as a coach and catalyst that empowers others to lead and succeed.

Looking back at your career, is there a moment, a risk, or a breakthrough that fundamentally shaped your leadership approach? What’s one leadership mistake you’ve made that you’re grateful for, and would never repeat?

Hilgen: There have been countless moments throughout my career that have shaped who I am as a leader. Some have been through mentorship, others through peer collaboration, and many through hard-earned lessons in the field. I’ve been fortunate to have mentors who challenged me, peers who supported me, and teams that taught me as much as I’ve taught them.

But if there’s one principle that’s stood out consistently, it’s the importance of communication. Miscommunication, or a lack of it, can derail even the best strategy. Over time, I’ve learned that effective leadership means knowing how to communicate up, across, and down in a way that aligns everyone without overwhelming them. It’s a balance where people are left in the dark if you communicate too little, and if you communicate too much, the message loses its impact.

Clear, intentional communication keeps teams rowing in the same direction and eliminates surprises that often lead to last-minute fire drills. It fosters alignment, trust, and, ultimately, better outcomes. That lesson, more than anything else, continues to shape how I operate today.

Building smarter stores: Digital transformation and operational strategy

Under your leadership, EG America has been undergoing a complex digital transformation. Could you describe one major initiative that had a measurable business or operational impact?

Hilgen: One of the most significant initiatives I’ve led came right after EG Group acquired Cumberland Farms. At that point, EG had entered the U.S. market by rapidly acquiring nearly 1,700 convenience store locations in under two years. Our challenge was to consolidate and unify the technology stack across all stores. This included everything from point-of-sale and back-office systems to payroll, HRIS, time and attendance, training, inventory systems, and financial software.

And we had just three months to do it.

To make that possible, we took a “one team, one mission” approach. We pulled together internal leaders and trusted partners, eliminated silos, and aligned around a common playbook. There was no room for politics or posturing, just execution. At the project’s height, we had 40 to 50 teams flying across the country, converting 30 to 35 stores a night. It was a massive logistical and operational effort, made even more intense by the looming uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic. As it happened, we wrapped up the final conversions just before the national shutdown—and I still joke that the extra day from the leap year saved us.

The project was delivered on time, which was a remarkable team achievement considering the scope and pace. While the store-level execution went smoothly and the customer experience remained uninterrupted, our support functions had to absorb a significant amount of downstream work, particularly in Finance and Accounting. That’s where the real post-migration effort was concentrated. Normalizing data, reconciling processes, and ensuring the back-end systems were fully aligned with the new platform was a very long and arduous process. It wasn’t about redoing store work; it was about shoring up the foundation behind the scenes. Even with that additional lift, the near seamlessness at the frontlines made it a standout success.

By bringing all the stores onto a single, modernized platform, we created a foundation for scale. It gave us the ability to launch chain-wide initiatives more efficiently, harmonize data, and begin introducing enterprise-grade solutions with confidence and control. It also opened the door for deeper transformation.

We’re building on that foundation with automation, AI, and advanced data modeling. What’s exciting today is that these technologies have become far more accessible. What used to require a team of PhDs and multi-million-dollar investments can now be deployed much more quickly and cost-effectively. That democratization of technology is fueling innovation across the organization, and it’s just the beginning of what’s possible.

Digital transformation is often seen as a buzzword. What’s the one part of EG America’s transformation you think would surprise even other tech leaders? What didn’t go according to plan, and how did it make you a better leader?

Hilgen: What I think would surprise even other tech leaders is how fluid digital transformation really is. We talk about it like it’s a defined roadmap. Still, in reality, it’s a moving target that is constantly shaped by market conditions, shifting business priorities, and changes in customer behavior that no one can fully predict.

One of the most eye-opening lessons for me came during the tail end of the pandemic, as hybrid and work-from-home behaviors started to solidify. Foot traffic patterns changed almost overnight. Locations that were previously high-volume became less consistent. That forced us to rethink how and where we delivered value and challenged a lot of the assumptions baked into earlier parts of our transformation strategy.

We had to pivot, and not just once. The priorities shifted from deploying platforms to asking: Are we still solving the right problem? Is the solution still relevant to today’s guest, not the guest we thought we had when we started this project?

That uncertainty made me a better leader. It pushed me to lead with more agility and humility, stay close to the ground, keep listening, and not be afraid to change course even after significant investment. Digital transformation isn’t about rolling out a set of tools and calling it done. It’s about staying in motion, adjusting in real time, and aligning with a world that isn’t standing still.

EG America encompasses multiple acquired convenience brands. What have been the key challenges and wins in standardizing and consolidating technology systems across such a diverse portfolio?

Hilgen: Standardization, simplification, and resilience have been the guiding principles of our approach to technology consolidation at EG America. When you’re dealing with multiple legacy systems across a portfolio of acquired companies, it’s easy to get caught in a web of duplication. You have multiple POS systems, competing back-office platforms, overlapping payroll and HR tools. Each of these systems may have worked well in isolation, but collectively, they created fragmentation, unnecessary integration points, and ultimately, risk.

The real challenge isn’t just technical integration, but rather it’s the decision-making that comes before it. You have to cut through the noise of “what we’ve always used” or “what’s new and shiny” and ask the hard question: which system will best serve the company’s future? We’ve been very deliberate about avoiding deploying technology for technology’s sake. Everything we implement must serve a clear business purpose, whether that’s speed to market, operational efficiency, or enhancing the guest experience.

Some of the biggest wins have come from making those tough calls early. Choices like choosing a single, scalable platform and then building the roadmap, aligning stakeholders, and executing them cleanly. Each successful consolidation has reduced complexity, improved our agility, and made us more resilient as an organization. It’s also fostered a culture of integration over fragmentation. We’re no longer stitching things together; we’re building systems that work holistically, across brands, regions, and teams.

That shift has positioned us to deliver technology that drives real business value faster, smarter, and more consistently across the enterprise.

You’re operating at the intersection of legacy infrastructure, high-volume operations, and consumer expectations. What’s the biggest myth about tech leadership in retail today?

Hilgen: One of the biggest myths about tech leadership in retail is that anyone has it all figured out.

In reality, that’s simply not possible, especially in an industry where fast-paced operations collide with constant technological change and rising consumer expectations. The landscape is shifting too quickly. Whether it’s AI, personalization, payments, or fulfillment, what’s cutting-edge today could be table stakes tomorrow, so the idea that there’s a perfect roadmap, or a fixed end state, is a myth.

What we do have is a strong sense of direction. We’re clear on our business objectives, and we understand the capabilities we need to get there. Success comes from staying nimble by being able to pivot quickly when guest behaviors shift, when a new platform emerges, or when economic conditions evolve. That ability to adapt, without losing focus, is what sets strong tech organizations apart.

At the end of the day, we’re all still learning, and that’s the point. The best tech leaders aren’t the ones trying to appear certain; they’re the ones building organizations that can thrive amid uncertainty.

If you had to sunset one legacy retail technology tomorrow, no approvals needed, what would it be, and what would you replace it with?

Hilgen: If I could sunset one legacy retail technology tomorrow without needing any approvals, it would be the traditional, monolithic point-of-sale system that still dominates much of the fuel and convenience retail space.

The reality is, we’re often held back by the physical and financial complexity of our infrastructure, the fuel pumps, the underground tanks, the forecourt controllers, and so on. These are high-capex assets which make modernization slower than in other retail segments. As a result, the POS, one of the most critical guest-facing technologies, has lagged behind. While sectors like restaurants have leapfrogged with agile, guest-friendly platforms, our options have remained limited, inflexible, and overly tethered to legacy thinking.

If I could replace it, I’d move toward a fully integrated, microservices-driven platform, one that connects all guest touchpoints, from mobile to in-store to pump, to a powerful, cloud-enabled backend. This type of architecture would allow us to leverage AI and machine learning to drive intelligent personalization, dynamic pricing, and operational efficiency in real time. It would also open the door to emerging capabilities like computer vision, which I believe will play a major role in the future, whether it’s autonomous checkout, inventory tracking, or loss prevention.

It isn’t about upgrading a single system; it’s about reimagining the entire customer and operator experience around a modern, composable architecture. That foundation enables innovation at speed and scale, and I believe our industry needs to move in that direction.

Behind the firewall: Cybersecurity & risk management in the convenience retail era

Retail is a high-risk sector for cyber threats. How have you approached improving EG America’s cybersecurity posture? Have you implemented any notable frameworks or seen measurable improvements in risk management, incident response, or compliance?

Hilgen: Cybersecurity in retail is a high-stakes, never-ending challenge. It is one we take extremely seriously at EG America. One of our advantages is the ability to collaborate closely with our colleagues in Europe and Australia. That global alignment has allowed us to adopt shared frameworks and coordinate strategy across the broader enterprise, which has made a meaningful difference in our resilience.

We’ve anchored our cybersecurity program to the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, which provides a solid foundation for managing risk, building capability, and continuously improving maturity. As part of that strategy, we’ve implemented an AI-powered SIEM solution to enhance real-time threat detection, response, and visibility across our environment and coupled it with best-in-class EDR platforms. By doing so, we’ve significantly improved our ability to identify, isolate, and respond to malicious activity with speed and precision.

In parallel, we’ve focused heavily on strengthening our foundational processes like rolling out a structured vulnerability management program and maturing our patch management discipline across the enterprise. These are essential pieces of the puzzle that often get overlooked, but they’re critical for reducing attack surface and minimizing risk.

The reality is that cybersecurity isn’t a destination, it’s a constant evolution. Our adversaries are well-funded, persistent, and increasingly sophisticated. That’s why we treat security as an embedded, enterprise-wide responsibility. While we’ve made tangible progress in improving our posture and response readiness, we’re always refining, always adapting, and always investing in the capabilities that help us stay one step ahead.

Change, influence, and the quiet power of persistence

When was the last time you changed your mind on a major technology decision? What prompted the pivot?

Hilgen: The most recent shift in my thinking was around how we approach our loyalty platform strategy. Initially, we were committed to building much of the solution ourselves, which included owning the stack end-to-end so we could tightly control the experience and differentiate through customization. Over time, it became clear that the ecosystem around us had evolved dramatically, and best-in-class vendors had not only caught up, but they had leapfrogged in certain areas, offering robust capabilities that would take us significant time and investment to replicate internally.

We made the decision to pivot and shift from a fully in-house approach to a hybrid model where we focus on owning the core elements that matter most to us, like data, orchestration, and guest experience logic, while partnering with external platforms for capabilities that are now industry standard. It was less about abandoning control and more about recognizing that maintaining a parallel path to the rest of the industry, just for the sake of independence, wasn’t the right play.

What prompted the pivot was a combination of factors: market acceleration, customer expectations, and a realization that speed to value matters more than ownership in certain layers of the stack. In the end, it’s about making smart, balanced decisions and staying flexible enough to course-correct when the environment changes.

Everyone’s talking about generative AI — what’s the one overhyped use case, and what’s one underestimated one in the convenience retail space?

Hilgen: I don’t think there’s one single overhyped use case for generative AI but I do think the broader hype stems from the expectation of exponential gains across the board. We’re still in the early innings of the AI hype cycle, and while there’s real promise, not every use case will transform a business overnight. Many of the touted applications like fully autonomous store ops or completely AI-driven content are chasing moonshots when the real value might be in smaller but more immediate wins that add up.

The underestimated use case is understanding and responding to guest behavior at a much deeper, faster level. Generative AI and machine learning can help us test hypotheses rapidly, detect intent, and deliver hyper-relevant products, offers, and services at exactly the right moment. That’s where the real magic happens not just in personalizing the experience, but in streamlining what we focus on operationally. When you can confidently say, “This is what our guests want right now,” you can eliminate the noise, reduce friction, and operate far more efficiently.

It’s not as flashy as some of the headline use cases, but in my view, it’s where AI will quietly drive the most meaningful value in the near term, both for the guest and the business.

What role do you see generative AI playing in both internal operations and customer-facing retail experiences in the coming years?

Hilgen: Internally, I see generative and agentic AI playing a major role in driving efficiency, reducing friction, and enabling teams to focus on high-value work. Generative AI is already helping eliminate repetitive tasks in things like drafting reports, summarizing documents, and accelerating access to insights. But agentic AI takes that a step further. It enables autonomous execution of tasks based on goals, not just prompts, automating multi-step workflows, coordinating between systems, and proactively surfacing actions without constant human intervention. That shift from automation to orchestration has the potential to redefine how we work across IT, finance, marketing, and operations.

The real power of both technologies lies in their ability to unlock insights at scale and operationalize them quickly. With the right guardrails, we can dramatically improve internal decision-making and responsiveness that will shape the business around real-time data and proactive intelligence.

On the customer-facing side, the focus will be on relevance, timing, and experience.

Generative AI gives us the tools to meet guests exactly where they are; whether that’s through personalized offers, intelligent product recommendations, or proactive service interactions. The goal is to make every touchpoint feel intuitive and tailored, to the point where the customer journey becomes second nature. When done well, it delights guests consistently, and just as critically, it makes them feel seen and understood.

I firmly believe that the advances in AI will allow us to design experiences that are not only efficient but emotionally resonant. It will allow us to focus on the connection and not just the automation. That’s the future I see unfolding, and we’re just starting to scratch the surface.

Rapid fire: Who’s the leader behind the role?

Imagine it’s 2030, what does a digitally transformed convenience store look like? What’s gone, what’s new, and what hasn’t changed?

Hilgen: By 2030, I don’t believe we’ll quite get to fully cashier-less convenience stores across the board, however I do think the experience will feel dramatically more personalized, efficient, and connected than it is today.

At the heart of it, stores will “know” the customer the moment they arrive. Through loyalty profiles and mobile integration, they’ll be able to predict what guests want; fuel, food, beverages, or services and streamline the entire journey around that intent. Mobile will become the primary engagement layer, while the in-store environment will act more as a fulfillment center that supports fast, accurate, and personalized service.

Traditional POS lines will be reduced in favor of mobile checkout, auto-redeemed offers, and flexible payment options. But there will still be staffed lanes for guests who want human interaction or need assistance because convenience is still about choice.

Store footprints will likely grow, not shrink, as we continue expanding into foodservice, delivery, and other adjacent offerings. Loyalty will shift more towards value-driven, focused on partnerships, stacked benefits, and retailer alliances that matter to the guest.

And while technology will transform the guest experience, it will also reshape the employee experience. Our team members are also consumers, and they expect tools that feel as intuitive as the ones they use in their personal lives. That means bite-sized, TikTok-style training, consumer-grade interfaces, and streamlined tasks that let them focus on service, not systems.

Some things that won’t change include fuel offers that will still be a core part of the business, at least for the next decade. The need for speed, convenience, and trust will remain foundational. Above all, successful stores will still be those that meet real needs in real time, just with far more intelligence, automation, and flexibility than ever before.

What’s a book, podcast, or principle that changed how you lead?

Hilgen: There are a handful of books that have really influenced how I lead, each in different ways, but all incredibly relevant to the complexity of running technology and operations in a fast-paced retail environment.

Getting Things Done by David Allen had a major impact on how I manage priorities. It’s more than just a productivity system. It’s a way to create clarity and space in environments where the noise can overwhelm the signal. In the c-store world, where urgency and multitasking are the norm, GTD helps bring structure to chaos so you can focus on outcomes, not just tasks.

Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin taught me the value of taking full accountability not just for what you control directly, but for everything that touches your area of responsibility. That mindset is critical in retail and tech leadership, where silos can easily form, and it’s easy to point fingers. It reframed how I lead cross-functional teams and how I coach others to step up.

Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne challenged me to think differently about competition. It reinforced that in a commoditized space like convenience retail, true innovation means creating value in places others aren’t looking whether that’s through tech, partnerships, or guest experience. It’s a strategic lens I come back to often when evaluating where we invest and how we differentiate.

Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara is one of the most inspiring reads on customer experience I’ve come across. His philosophy of going above and beyond in unexpected ways resonates deeply with how I think about both guest and employee experience. In our world, we often talk about “service,” but this book reminded me that how we make people feel is often more lasting than what we provide.

As for podcasts, I’m constantly rotating through them. I treat podcasts as a real-time pulse on what’s emerging. Everything from leadership and AI to operational excellence and retail trends. I don’t stick to a single show long-term, rather I follow curiosity and relevance, always on the lookout for that one idea that can shift a conversation or inspire a new direction.

What’s one question every tech executive should be asking themselves right now, but probably isn’t?

Hilgen: One question every tech executive should be asking themselves right now, but probably isn’t, is:

“Are we building capabilities, or just deploying tools?”

In the convenience retail space, it’s easy to get caught up in shiny tech, whether that’s AI personalization engines, mobile platforms, loyalty apps, or anything else. But the real question is: are these investments creating capabilities that make our business more agile, our stores more efficient, and our teams more empowered? Or are we just checking boxes to say we implemented something?

A self-checkout terminal means nothing if it adds friction for the guest. A loyalty engine is useless if we can’t operationalize the insights at the store level. And deploying AI without the right data foundation and frontline adoption is just theater.

The trap a lot of leaders fall into is confusing tech deployment with transformation.

Tools don’t transform businesses; capabilities do. In our world, that means making sure that what we build actually improves fuel operations, speeds up transactions, simplifies day-to-day for team members, or drives incremental guest visits. If it doesn’t do those things, it’s just noise.

The companies that will lead this sector won’t be the ones with the most logos on their tech stack, they’ll be the ones who built real, lasting capabilities that the business can use every single day.

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