McDermott + Bull has successfully placed Josh Villegas as Vice President, Retail Finance at United Pacific. Josh will lead financial planning and business intelligence initiatives across the company’s nearly 700 retail locations in 11 states. Reporting directly to the Chief Financial Officer, he will oversee strategic financial planning, forecasting, internal reporting, and cross-functional decision-making to support continued growth and profitability.
Josh joins United Pacific from BJ’s Restaurants, where he most recently served as Director of Corporate Strategy and Analytics. In this role, he led the development of the company’s five-year strategic growth plan, implemented AI-driven forecasting tools that improved labor cost efficiency, and played a key role in launching new revenue-generating concepts that drove significant top-line growth. Prior to BJ’s, Josh held financial planning roles at Kaiser Permanente and began his career in consulting at Deloitte. Josh earned his MBA from UCLA and holds a bachelor’s degree from UC Irvine.
Founded in 1955 and based in Long Beach, California, United Pacific is one of the largest independent owners, suppliers, and operators of gas stations and convenience stores in the Western United States. Private equity-backed by Fortress Investment Group LLC, United Pacific is a prominent multi-billion-dollar retailer known for its dynamic and customer-focused approach.
Fortress Investment Group LLC is a leading, highly diversified global investment manager. Founded in 1998, Fortress manages $48.0 billion of assets under management as of December 31, 2023, on behalf of over 2,000 institutional clients and private investors worldwide across a range of credit and real estate, private equity, and permanent capital investment strategies.
This executive search was led by McDermott + Bull Managing Partner + Co-Founder Chris Bull, Vice President Michael Sesker, and Executive Recruiter Adrian Rufo.