Seven & i Holdings has appointed Mauricio Leyva as chief executive officer of 7-Eleven Inc., its North American convenience store business, effective August 1, 2026. Leyva, a veteran of the global beverage and consumer goods industry, takes the helm of the Irving, Texas-based operator just weeks before the company approaches its centennial and amid Seven & i's broader transformation to ready 7-Eleven for a potential initial public offering in the second half of 2026. The appointment concludes a six-month executive search following the retirement of Joseph DePinto, who led the chain for more than two decades.
Leyva succeeds interim co-chief executives Stan Reynolds and Doug Rosencrans, who assumed leadership after DePinto's departure at year-end 2025. Seven & i Holdings CEO Steve Dacus, who took over the parent company's top role in May 2025 as part of a broader corporate restructuring, praised Leyva's record. "Mauricio brings a wealth of executive leadership experience at global consumer goods companies and a proven track record of leading business transformations," Dacus said in a statement. "His appointment represents an important milestone as the company accelerates toward our transformation program 'North Star'." Leyva said in his own statement, "I have long admired the 7-Eleven brand, and I am honored to lead SEI at such an important moment in its history." No search firm involvement has been disclosed in public statements.
Leyva brings more than two decades of consumer products leadership to the convenience retail sector. Most recently, he served as senior advisor to McKinsey & Company, providing strategic guidance to the consulting firm's retail, consumer and packaged goods practice. Before McKinsey, he spent four years at Keurig Dr Pepper, where from 2020 to 2024 he served as group president, overseeing a post-merger integration that helped elevate Dr Pepper to become the second-largest carbonated soft drink brand in the United States. His career also includes leadership roles at AB InBev as president of the Middle Americas Zone and CEO of Grupo Modelo, at SABMiller as chairman and managing director of its South African operations, and at Grupo Lala, a Mexican dairy company, where he served as chief executive. Leyva holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from Universidad de Los Andes in Colombia and completed postgraduate studies in international commerce at ICN Business School in France. He has also completed executive education programs at Stanford University and Said Business School at the University of Oxford.
Seven & i Holdings is the Tokyo-based parent of the 7-Eleven convenience store network, which operates and franchises approximately 13,000 stores across the United States and Canada. The company announced in March 2025 that it intends to take 7-Eleven Inc. public in the second half of 2026, though the offering was delayed from its initial timeline. Proceeds from the IPO and a concurrent sale of non-core assets including supermarkets and other retail operations to Bain Capital for $5.4 billion are intended to fund share buybacks and strengthen the company's financial position. 7-Eleven has the largest convenience store footprint in North America and seeks to leverage that scale to accelerate growth.
Leyva's appointment reflects Seven & i's determination to bring external expertise into 7-Eleven's leadership during a critical juncture. His selection of an executive from beverage and consumer goods sectors rather than from convenience retail signals an emphasis on applying transformation playbooks from adjacent industries. The timing is significant: with an IPO expected within months and the brand approaching its 100th anniversary in 2027, Leyva will need to demonstrate his ability to drive innovation, improve profitability and elevate customer experience across a franchise network that has faced scrutiny over sluggish growth and underperformance relative to competitors. His mandate from Seven & i explicitly focuses on strengthening the store network, advancing operational excellence and driving sustainable growth, objectives that will require him to translate beverage industry transformation experience to the convenience retail domain.
