Cary-based convenience store chain The Pantry announced this morning that it has named Dennis G. Hatchell to be its new president and CEO effective March 5.

Hatchell was previously vice chairman of Alex Lee, a holding company for Lowe's Food Stores, Merchants Distributors and Institution Food House.

He will take over from Edwin Holman, who has been the interim CEO since Terrance Marks resigned in October to become the CEO of the Hooters restaurant chain.

Holman will remain chairman of the board. Hatchell also joins the board.
 

Raleigh-based CB Holdings has reached an agreement to buy the assets of Renegade Holdings, a cigarette manufacturer in Davie County.

Renegade Holdings is the privately-held parent of Renegade Tobacco and Alternative Brands. Its products include Tucson cigarettes and Murano cigars.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The combined company will employ about 150 people, according to a statement issued by CB Holdings.

The Raleigh company, which is owned by Bill Barker and Charles Fuller, owns the tobacco brands Palmetto and Proud Smoke. It also owns a manufacturing facility in South Boston, Va., a sales and distribution company in Raleigh and an organic coffee company, Cherokee Coffee.

According to a statement issued by CB Holdings, the company has been working on the acquisition for more than a year and expects the deal to close in October.

Starting Monday, all 100 of the state's acute care hospitals will be tobacco free, so patients, visitors and staff will have to smoke elsewhere.

The initiative was spearheaded by N.C. Prevention Partners with a $600,000 grant from the Duke Endowment. Efforts began three years ago, and hospitals around the state have been phasing in the new smoke-free policy since then.

All the hospitals in the Triangle went smoke free last year at this time.

"North Carolina will pass a major health milestone next week," Meg Molloy, President and CEO of N.C .Prevention Partners, said in a preparted statement. "We are leading the nation in tobacco-free hospitals and, with these policies in place, millions of hospital patients, visitors and employees will be protected from exposure to harmful secondhand smoke. Hospitals are natural health leaders and are setting the pace for healthy communities in North Carolina. We are grateful to The Duke Endowment and NC Hospital Association for their unwavering support."

For more information about N.C. Prevention Partners, go to www.ncpreventionpartners.org.