Erik Von Fischer
Lori Flees
In 2023, Lori Flees was named CEO of Valvoline, a Lexington-based leader in the automotive services industry. Valvoline introduced the world’s first branded motor oil in 1866. Today, she oversees 2,010 Valvoline-branded oil change locations across the U.S. (Valvoline Instant Oil Change), Canada (Great Canadian Oil Change), and Express Care, which helps independent auto service centers incorporate Valvoline’s quick-oil-change model. While Express Care has mainly operated in North America, it has expanded internationally with locations in several countries.
Valvoline is on track to add 250 new stores annually by 2027, aiming to grow its network to 3,500 locations.
Flees’ career began at Kettering University, formerly known as General Motors Institute. Kettering’s educational program is based on the co-op model, which structures periods of paid work experience alternating with academic course studies. She worked for GM’s GMC Truck Division, gaining experience in 16 different departments over five years.
“They were big projects,” said Flees. “I might be subbing for someone who was on maternity leave, be given a project, or join a team and work on something.” During her enrollment at Kettering, she worked on projects in the U.S., England, and Paris. “It was an amazing experience,” she said.
Flees earned a Bachelor of Science in Management Systems, which combined elements of industrial engineering, physics, coding, economics, and marketing. “It taught me systems thinking — how economics, accounting, marketing, and technology all work together in a company.”
After graduation, she spent two years at Intel as a senior business analyst, deepening her understanding of technology and its role in consumer products. Lori then took a two-year break to earn her MBA from Harvard.
She went on to spend 17 years at Bain & Company, a leading global consulting firm, where she worked across industries like aerospace, oil and gas, consumer products, and healthcare. “The pace of learning was incredible,” she said. “A lot of innovation comes when you take an idea that’s done in a different space and you apply it to your own.”
In 2014, she joined Walmart as senior vice president in corporate strategy. She then moved over to Walmart’s Sam’s Club as senior vice president of Sam’s Club Health and Wellness, to oversee the rollout of a healthcare solutions plan to a chain of six hundred pharmacy, optical, and audiology service locations. Later, she oversaw Walmart’s broader health and wellness business across 4,800 locations.
Business Lexington spoke with Flees about her work and the challenges of running a corporation.
What shaped your ambition and career path?
I grew up outside of Flint, Michigan, in a very small town called Lapeer. My mom was in college the entire time I was growing up. She worked full-time, helping her husband raise a family of five. My mom graduated with her master’s degree that same year I graduated with my bachelor’s degree. That instilled in me an ethic to work very hard — continuing to strive to learn and improve.
Another big impact on me was the Hugh O’Brien Youth Foundation, an organization that inspires young kids to think bigger than their small communities. I was the first member of my family to go to college full time.
Tell us a bit about Valvoline.
In the 1860s, Valvoline created one of the first motor oils or lubricants. In the early 1900s, it was the recommended oil for the Ford Model T. Fast forward to 2016, when we separated from Ashland Oil and became our own public company, Valvoline, Inc.
We were still made up of two businesses. Part of the company made the lubricants and fluids and sold them for retail — like Walmart and Advanced Auto Parts and others. The other part of the business was the service business, which used those products to provide a service for consumers, predominantly oil changes, although that’s expanded.
In 2023, the board and management team decided to separate the two businesses. We sold the product side to Aramco, which now supplies the materials used to make Valvoline products. Today, Valvoline is fully focused on its retail services.
I’ve inherited these things, and I’ve delivered its 18th year of system-wide same-store sales growth across our franchisees and company stores. We had more than $3 billion in sales for our fiscal year 2024. We’re driving profit growth, and we’re completing 28 million services for our customers in a year. And the thing that really makes us stand out is tied to our proposition: quick, easy, trusted.
What’s important for companies to focus on when motivating and retaining employees?
Attracting talent starts with having a strong brand and offering competitive compensation. But retaining employees requires more. First, you have to give people the training and tools they need to succeed. Second, you need to foster a supportive, team-oriented environment.
We’ve created a lot of fun ways to build that culture, like our annual “Oilympics” competition, where teams from different stores compete. (In 2024, it was hosted in Lexington, and a Lexington-based team won the speed category.)
The third piece is growth opportunities. With our pace of expansion, there’s always room for career advancement. All of our store managers start in the stores. We don’t hire managers from other retailers to manage our stores. We hire them, they learn the job, and they learn the culture, and then they get promoted.
If you look all the way through our leadership team, my two store vice president operations leads have more than 30 years with our company. It’s really an apprenticeship business where we take care of our people.
You’re known for using technology to drive transformation. Can you share an example?
One example is the COVID vaccination program I led at Walmart. The federal government wanted every state to decide the priorities for their state and who would get the vaccine first. Every state had different requirements, and that had to be managed by immunization providers. I led a team with product designers, technical leads, and engineering software programmers, and we repurposed the online grocery scheduling app, basically taking the guts of that to create [a way] for people to get immunizations scheduled for every state.
The right technology can help create a better experience for the patient or customer and a better experience for your employees while making it more efficient. It’s the kind of technology we’re deploying at Valvoline.