Celebrating the 2022
TOP
This year’s record class of 91 honorees illustrates how the industry is evolving to better recognize and cultivate female talent.
Paying It
Forward
WOMeN OF THE YEAR
Holly Angell
Allison Cornish
Danielle Holloway
Julie Jackson
Colette Matthews
SENIOR-LEVEL LEADERS
• At the Ankeny, Iowa-based retailer, Alabaugh oversees operations for 600 Casey’s convenience stores. The position allows her to do what she loves: serve and lead people.
• Her professional journey with Casey’s began in 2000 in her hometown of Clinton, Ind., and from there, she’s played different roles as an operator, including store manager, supervisor, and regional director. She has been in her current role since November 2021. Over her tenure, she’s opened nearly 40 new stores.
• Alabaugh has been identified
as a Casey’s ambassador to help onboard regional directors and division directors and help them understand Casey’s culture. Recently, she was chosen to be
a part of Casey’s first-ever, months-long leadership course provided by its learning and development team.
Division Vice President,
Casey’s General Stores Inc.
Annie
Alabaugh
Director — US Convenience,
Northeast, The Hershey Co.
Gwen Andrews
Senior Director, Trade
Marketing, Phoenix Region, Reynolds Marketing
Services Co.
Trish Bay
Director of Innovation
& Process Improvement, Maverik — Adventure’s First Stop
Elizabeth Benson
• As a 24-year Hershey veteran, Andrews has experience across multiple channels/functions, including five years driving strategy and planning for the convenience channel. In her current role, she leads a team of nine customer sales executives responsible for retailers and distributors throughout the Northeast.
• She is involved in many home office work streams that help set up the future around innovation, pack sizes, merchandising, and programs. She has also led several large customer collaboration sessions in Hershey’s Global Customer Insights Center and Mobile Customer Insights Center.
• Andrews is the convenience channel lead for new hire training, working cross-functionally to facilitate the training. She is a mentor across the Hershey organization.
• Bay has had the opportunity to work in multiple roles across Reynolds over the last 12 years. As senior director, she is responsible for managing and leading a high-performing trade marketing and activation team of 104 individuals across five states.
• Her Phoenix Region team manages the relationships and programs in more than 8,500 convenience-gas and non-traditional retail outlets, delivering $780 million in annual net revenue. Her team works collaboratively to elevate and activate the market in unique ways to deliver the company’s Better Tomorrow Strategy at retail.
• Bay graduated from the NACS Executive Leadership Program at Cornell University, the Reynolds Leadership Development Experience, and the BAT Women in Leadership Program. She believes there are three qualities of an effective leader: being passionate, accountable and inspirational.
• Benson has worked at Maverik for more than six years, where she leads strategic direction for cross-functional process improvement initiatives. Her leadership has resulted in savings of more than $10 million in excess costs and reduced time spent on activities across Maverik’s operating footprint of nearly 400 stores in 12 western states.
• A data-driven professional with an eye for spotting waste and redundancy, Benson is a seasoned professional who has focused on a myriad of process improvement activities for various organizations. She spearheads initiatives under Maverik’s strategic program called MAPS (Maverik Activities and Process Standardization).
• Benson chairs a multi-departmental team of directors for Maverik that works to address various “hot topic” current challenges with the company.
Senior Channel Operations Manager, Mars Wrigley
Marla Benson
Director of Operations,
7-Eleven Inc.
Sandie Bower
Vice President, Customer Leadership, The Coca-Cola Co.
Capri Brixey
Director of Financial Reporting
& Services, Thorntons LLC
Brigid Brown
• A nearly four-decade company veteran, Benson joined Mars Wrigley’s convenience business
in 2011. She owns the overall operational management of the channel, is responsible for continuous improvement of the Retailer Advisory Board, and drives strategy for the Performance Rewards Program.
• Benson is a key cross-functional partner who is involved in many project teams, including sales annual planning and giving input into the forecasting process for supply and various other brand and operational activities. She is referred to as “the glue” of the team.
• A passionate mentor for new
and current associates, Benson
is always looking to help support the growth and development of others. Her biggest advice is to
be authentic.
• As director of operations
for 7-Eleven’s Great Mid-
Atlantic Zone, Bower has a track record of developing future leaders through her passion for creating
high-executing teams. Her “it-can-be-done” attitude and willingness to be courageous help ensure that her
teams have what they need to
execute every day.
• In her 13-year career with 7-Eleven, Bower has mentored individuals throughout the organization, and led several work groups to improve processes and tools. Her high-energy, problem-solving approach empowers everyone around her to succeed.
• In September 2021, Bower received
a servant leadership award from
7-Eleven President and CEO Joe DePinto for her work in helping stores and franchisees with supply chain struggles. Outside of 7-Eleven, she is actively involved with NextUp, a nonprofit devoted to advancing women in business.
• Brixey has been with The Coca-Cola Co. for three years. As vice president of customer leadership, she leads small-format teams in the central United States. Her responsibilities include leading collaborative and joint business planning processes directly with multiple top 10 convenience retailers in the U.S.
• During her career, she has had the opportunity to gain extensive experience in the consumer product goods industry across multiple channels, formats and manufacturers, including time spent as a retailer and vendor/supplier.
• Brixey’s passion for food and leadership extends to her work
in community service. In North Carolina, she worked with organizations related to food
insecurity and the local food ecosystem. Now in Kentucky,
she’s involved with the Children’s Home of Northern Kentucky.
• Brown has held leadership roles in finance and accounting during her 29 years with Thorntons. Currently, she leads the accounting and finance teams, working in partnership with executive leadership, the
board of directors, operations, transportation, store support,
and information technology. She is the “go-to team member” in finance for special projects.
• She serves as treasurer and a member of the board of directors for Champ Cares, a 501(c)(3) team member assistance fund at Thorntons.
• According to Brown, good leaders have self-awareness and know their strengths and areas of opportunity for growth in both technical and people skills. Good leaders communicate effectively among all members of the organization and stakeholders, and recognize contributions and achievements in a meaningful and timely way.
• Modugno leads Nouria’s merchandising division, inclusive of category management, store merchandising, foodservice, and pricebook programs and teams. She is responsible for all financial metrics, including profitability, budgeting, planning, execution, profit and loss initiatives, as well as ensuring all sales and budget targets are met each period.
• As Nouria’s private brand champion, Modugno utilizes her years of experience to grow My Nouria, Café Nouria and Nouria’s Kitchen into thriving brands that offer great quality products at an exceptional value. Most recently, she led the expansion of My Nouria into freshly packaged baked goods.
• She is an accomplished, innovative and passionate executive with more than 25 years of experience in retail. Prior to joining Nouria, she led BJ’s Wholesale Club’s private brands, taking them from development to billion-dollar brands.
Senior District Manager,
Beck Suppliers
Chelsea Carvalho
Senior Director, Operations Services & Transformation,
GetGo Café & Market
Gina Clemente
Director of Purchasing,
C.N. Brown Co.
Brandi Cushman
Senior Manager of Insights
& Analytics, Sheetz Inc.
Magda Delattre
• Carvalho is a fourth-generation family business member at Beck Suppliers. She started her career there in 2018
working in different areas of the company’s retail division, FriendShip Stores. As senior district manager, she manages her six-store district plus the
team of district managers over all 29 FriendShip Stores locations.
• She learned the business from the ground up by working at the store level, leading foodservice initiatives, and then working as a district manager. Now, Carvalho oversees the direction of the FriendShip Stores retail division under the mentorship of the vice president of retail operations.
• Carvalho points to humility, setting an example and problem-solving skills as the key attributes of a successful leader.
• Clemente joined the organization in 2005 as a part-time cashier. She quickly rose to the position of district leader, and then regional business leader, before being named senior director of operations in 2020. During that time, she was instrumental in harmonizing GetGo’s acquisition of Ricker Oil Co. In February 2022, Clemente moved into her current role to lead the future strategy and forward growth of GetGo.
• She’s spearheaded work to evolve GetGo’s team member value proposition to support retention, drive applicant flow, and increase the talent pipeline. She also supported the creation of a new platform to attract talent, and worked to provide wage increases, enhanced benefits and tailored policies to better fit the needs of team members.
• Prior to GetGo, Clemente worked in store management for other convenience retailers. She was also a nuclear, biological and chemical specialist in the United States Army.
• Cushman began her career at C.N. Brown in 1994 in retail operations, auditing locations’ daily paperwork. She moved into IT two years later, and was then promoted to tobacco category manager in 2002. She assumed her current role in 2018.
• Her responsibilities include leading and managing the purchasing and merchandising departments, determining Big Apple’s brand vision and the supporting strategies to achieve divisional sales and margin objectives, and developing category strategies.
• Honored as a Top Women in Convenience Rising Star in 2016, Cushman is a problem solver who thinks outside the box and has an open-door policy for new ideas, concerns and opinions. She is also a strong voice in local and state legislative issues impacting the convenience channel.
• Delattre is responsible for driving data-driven decisions by utilizing data analytics and customer insights to provide recommendations for addressing customer needs and staying ahead of the competition, while maintaining Sheetz’s Total Customer Focus promise.
• She leads three teams that cover
the analytic and research needs of the marketing and brand departments.
Her analysis oversight includes
pricing, loyalty, category, promotion, and merchandising. Her insights team completes quantitative and qualitative research studies to understand customer views on their experiences with Sheetz.
• In her five-year tenure at Sheetz, Delattre has led the corporate strategic initiative to bring the company’s customer feedback into a robust Voice of Customer Platform.
Director of Foodservice,
High’s
Sherryn Diamond
Director of Human Resources, Weigel’s Stores Inc.
Melanie Disney
Restaurant Division Director,
Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc./Circle K
Kristina Fisher
Director of Marketing,
ITG Brands
Jessica Flaten
• As she guides the strategy of High’s foodservice offering, Diamond and her team are responsible for all aspects
of the High’s Kitchen offering, which features craveable food using local favorites provided by small family-owned suppliers.
• Her responsibilities include menu development, foodservice category management, equipment purchasing, standard operating procedure development, marketing and merchandising food and beverage, training, and new
store design.
• Diamond works with manufacturers, suppliers, advertising and store-level
team members to roll out new programs that support High’s journey to become a foodservice destination. Recognized by NACS in its Ideas to Go program, High’s has increased its fresh food and foodservice sales fivefold in
just a few years.
• Disney joined Weigel’s in
2018 to run its human resources department and has been instrumental in changing the culture and talent at the retailer. Known as a natural leader in the company, she seeks to consistently challenge thinking, while helping employees grow both personally and professionally.
• She has helped fill all projected roles with high-performing individuals who will help drive Weigel’s forward. Disney is also restructuring the company’s employee onboarding, training and recognition programs.
• An advocate for people with disabilities, Disney is growing the company’s partnership with nonprofit organizations that provide job coaching for those with disabilities. She was an instrumental player in Weigel’s winning the employer of the year award with Goodwill Industries three years ago.
• Fisher brings more than 25 years of experience in the
food industry to her role at Couche-Tard. She leads the overall business operations
of more than 220 global restaurants, with proprietary brands across eight states,
five business units, and a full span of approximately 1,500 team members.
• Her primary responsibility is to develop the company’s restaurant strategy for North America. In her role, she also partners with the real estate division to look at the new-to-industry stores and raze-and-rebuilds to determine the best food options for them.
• Fisher was recently one of 25 participants selected for the company’s Global Leadership Forum, which is designed to help leaders grow into the next steps of their careers.
• Flaten’s primary area of focus is driving blu vapor performance by leading the brand strategy and marketing operations within the United States. She is responsible for managing highly collaborative teams within a global matrix, where she has successfully leveraged new structures and processes to streamline communications and efficiencies.
• She is one of the few women directors in the business. She reports to the executive vice president of marketing, and has a team of senior brand managers and brand managers/project managers reporting to her.
• Flaten has more than 15 years
of marketing experience in highly regulated consumer product goods, including alcohol, traditional combustibles, and mass market cigars.
Senior Director of Sales
& Operations, Midwest Region, Murphy USA Inc.
Sherri Fleming-
Ramler
Director of Commercial Sales Insights, PepsiCo Inc.
Sri
Gouri
Senior Marketing Manager, Convenience, The Boston Beer Co.
Carey
Haubenschild
Vice President of Technology, StrasGlobal
Angelica Krott
• Fleming’s love of the
fast-paced retail industry began when she was 17. She’s taken every opportunity to grow and develop her leadership skills, advancing her career to her current role as senior director of sales and operations for Murphy USA’s Midwest region.
• Today, she leads the execution of operational best practices and process improvements throughout the retailer’s Midwest region by leveraging relevant key performance indicators to optimize top- and bottom-line results.
• Through Fleming’s leadership
in implementing Murphy USA’s LEAD program, 16 store managers have been promoted to district managers since the program’s inception in 2019. She also implemented the company’s Exit Interview Program, designed to provide field personnel with input on how to better serve field employees to improve retention.
• Gouri joined PepsiCo in 2018, bringing 15 years of experience in retail and consumer packaged goods and an MBA from Rice University. She was promoted to director of category leadership in October 2019. This March, she was promoted again to director of commercial sales insights, supporting PepsiCo’s total portfolio at Sam’s Club.
• As director of category leadership, she was tasked with leading PepsiCo’s strategy across total portfolio at 7-Eleven Inc., and the Frito-Lay business at Circle K. In addition, she was responsible for leading a team of five category management professionals.
• In 2021, Gouri earned the Leadership Award from PepsiCo’s Demand Accelerator Category Leadership Team. In 2020, she and her team were recognized with the MVP Award from the PepsiCo Beverages North America team during the national sales meeting.
• Haubenschild leads overall brand strategy for the convenience channel, specifically on Truly and Twisted Tea. She is responsible for leading the development of shopper marketing programs, shopper media and national partnerships to support the channel.
• She oversees a large budget on both the Truly and Twisted Tea brand teams and ensures those dollars are working as hard as possible for The Boston Beer Co. Her expertise is utilized nationally as she is the “go-to for all things convenience strategy” at the company.
• Haubenschild’s love affair with c-stores began soon after college when she worked at a beer/non-alcohol beverage wholesaler in a range of sales leadership positions. Working on the manufacturer side for 15 years offered her the ability to learn and grow alongside some of the best individuals in the industry.
• Krott is responsible for managing all things digital at StrasGlobal. This includes networking, hosting, hardware and websites/SaaS applications management, including its award-winning Compliance Safe product. She also implemented an online ordering and delivery program for the company’s stores within three months, and devised and created StrasNet, an online platform to communicate with stores and track their performance.
• She is responsible for training and supporting all StrasGlobal employees on the use of software and hardware. She has conducted “lunch and learn” sessions to train and ramp up team skills, helping the company improve its efficiency and productivity.
• Krott’s knowledge and experience allowed StrasGlobal to implement a robust digital COVID-19 pandemic response. She quickly rolled out a mass communications system for stores and developed a PowerBI feedback funnel to monitor employee morale and the impact of COVID-19 by county.
Senior Vice President,
Human Resources, Core-Mark International
Ali
Marciano
Senior Director of Regional Operations, Alpine Region,
Maverik — Adventure’s First Stop
Sheila Merrigan
Vice President, Real Estate,
Casey’s General Stores Inc.
Kendra Meyer
Executive Director
of Marketing, RaceTrac Inc.
Jamie Miller
• Marciano is responsible for workforce planning, recruitment and talent management, performance management, company culture/
engagement, and vertical and horizontal integration of Core-Mark and Eby-Brown into Performance Food Group’s convenience segment. She has delivered significant cost-savings initiatives — the company is on track to save nearly $1 million by the end of 2023 in human resources spend alone.
• In 2021, she spearheaded diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives across the United States and Canada surrounding milestone history and heritage month events. She also secured funding to roll out unconscious bias manager training to more than
400 leaders.
• Prior to joining Core-Mark in 2020 as the human resources director for the company’s East Region, Marciano was the head of people operations, people business partner, and the mergers and acquisitions people deal lead at Ericsson.
• Merrigan has more than
30 years of experience in the convenience store industry. She joined Maverik in 2016 and is responsible for 85 locations and eight districts.
• Her role encompasses leading and serving in-store team members; coaching, career and leadership development; providing unforgettable service to the retailer’s customers; collaborating with Maverik’s Base Camp corporate headquarters; finding innovative solutions to deliver better customer service and job efficiency; and keeping Maverik’s culture front and center in the operations teams.
• Merrigan serves on many teams at Maverik to improve operations, including serving as chair of the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) team. She spearheaded a strategic initiative to revamp cash control policies, contributing to significant cash control and reporting improvements. The SOP team also focused on redesigning processes to exceed expectations in foodservice safety and store cleanliness.
• Meyer joined Casey’s in 2017 and leads all of the retailer’s real estate management functions. She has five direct reports and seven indirect reports.
• As vice president of real estate, Meyer plans, directs and executes
on Casey’s strategic growth plan, including site identification, evaluation and negotiation of real estate for the expansion of new store locations. Her team also manages the divestiture of operational and closed stores, along with all leasing aspects across the
company’s 16-state footprint.
• At 34 years old, Meyer is one of the youngest vice presidents at Casey’s and has been promoted twice since joining the organization. In 2021,
she received a Future Leader in Convenience award from Convenience Store News, and attended the NACS Executive Leadership Program at Cornell University.
• Miller joined RaceTrac in 2020 and is responsible for all marketing strategy and implementation, including brand, promotions, creative, internal and external communications, partnerships and vendor marketing, insights and analytics, and marketing technology such as its app and the RaceTrac Rewards loyalty program.
• Over the past year, she has led and overseen the creation of RaceTrac’s first-ever Marketing Analytics and Insights Team and bolstered the department’s MarTech and Digital teams, culminated by a prioritized multiyear frictionless and loyalty roadmap rooted in guest and market insights.
• In addition to her marketing efforts, Miller serves as an advocate for RaceTrac’s diversity and inclusion initiatives, participating in event panels and volunteering to help coordinate events. She also serves as the chair of LEAD, RaceTrac’s business resource group dedicated to the advancement of women in business.
Director of Category Management,
Nouria Energy
Kristine
Modugno
Senior Director — Food,
Beverage & Retail Programs,
Dash In Food Stores
Barbara Nova
Division President, McLane
Mid-Atlantic, McLane Co. Inc.
Jackie Palmer
Head of Real Estate, Western U.S., Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc./Circle K
Suzy
Peel
• Nova leads the category management team for all store categories, emphasizing foodservice innovation and growth. She is responsible for supply chain procurement, vendor relationships, creating planograms, maximizing category margins, building Dash In’s proprietary foodservice programs, and managing the pricebook team.
• According to her nominator, every level of the organization looks to Nova for counsel, direction and advice based on her experience and expertise, and the company itself seeks her thoughts and advice on community service activities and campaigns to improve lives in the communities it serves.
• Nova has implemented changes and made hires that helped produce results upwards of 15 percent growth in four consecutive years. Her nominator credits her as contributing to a “meteoric rise” in sales since she joined the company.
• Palmer leads a distribution center of 670 warehouse and transportation and senior leaders, while implementing and following company and division strategic initiatives. She establishes and oversees capital expenditures and investments, evaluates division programs, captures statistical trends, forecasts sales/units, and enforces productivity improvements.
• During her career with McLane, Palmer has supported and led teams in five divisions to success. Achievements included the highest customer satisfaction rating in order quality and on-time delivery; top sales; the highest-rated food safety audit; and the highest division retention and expense management/budget attainment.
• Palmer views her role as ensuring that she and her team provide McLane customers with excellent service, and she credits her team for inspiring her to be the best leader she can be. Outside of McLane, she serves as the board of directors’ vice chair for Fredericksburg Regional Food Bank.
• As the first-ever female leader to head up real estate development at Couche-Tard, Peel shattered glass ceilings and became a role model to women across the organization. Her nominator says that when she isn’t building stores, she is building relationships and serving as a strong advocate for her team.
• Peel spends most of her days in the field where she evaluates sites for possible new builds, while mentoring, advising and advocating for her teams. Known for being sharp, smart and driven, she takes a systematic approach to decision-making and effectively communicates with cross-functional teams, including the executive investment committee.
• She aligns teams to strategically focus efforts on high-growth markets to allow for stores’ long-term success and to achieve Couche-Tard’s Double Again strategy, which seeks to double net earnings by 2023.
Assistant General Counsel,
Murphy USA Inc.
Rachel
Pickett
West Area Vice President,
ITG Brands
Kimberly Ross
Product Director, Fresh Foods,
7-Eleven Inc.
Vareesha Shariff
Vice President of Merchandising, Marketing & External Affairs,
Gate Petroleum Co.
Misty Skipper
• Pickett advises all departments within Murphy USA and has successfully contributed to several high-impact initiatives, including the company’s acquisition and integration of QuickChek Corp.; further development of its environmental, social and governance program; and management of its COVID-19 compliance.
• She also has oversight of Murphy USA’s contracts management program and serves as a key advisor to its sales and operations and human resources functions. According to her nominator, Pickett is viewed not only as an attorney, but also a valued thought partner who approaches issues with an open mind and is adept at finding workable solutions for internal clients in difficult situations.
• Outside of work, Pickett serves on the board of directors for HOPE Landing, an organization that provides therapeutic and support services to children with disabilities.
• Ross leads a field sales team of more than 300 people and is highly motivated in driving top-tier sales and volume growth. She is responsible for driving best-in-class retail execution, building strategic customer partnerships, and delivering key insights and solutions to maximize sales for ITG Brands.
• She supported the largest sales transformation in ITG Brands history, which involved reframing its position with customers, expanding its sales force, and improving the diversity of the organization. She is leading the recruitment effort to expand the sales force by more than 200 employees, and is heading up the new coaching and development process of more than 900 sales reps in the field.
• Known as a champion for a diverse and inclusive culture, Ross is the executive sponsor for the women’s business employee resource group. She considers it important that the company’s high-performing and diverse talent always reflects the consumer base.
• Shariff coordinates a cross-functional team of merchandising, marketing, operations, procurement, and logistics professionals who continuously develop and launch transformational fresh food programs for 7-Eleven’s stores.
• During her 13 years with 7-Eleven, she has continually been promoted to positions of increasing responsibility based on her expert team leadership, analytical and change management skills, and ability to deliver outstanding business results.
She has received the Excellent Execution for Business Transformation honor three times.
• According to her nominator, Shariff’s sphere of influence includes her ability to positively influence people and culture. As an inspired leader who truly cares for her team, she’s built a culture of mentorship, growth and development that has resulted in numerous team members moving into higher leadership roles as a direct result of the support and guidance she provides.
• Skipper oversees retail category management, pricing and inventory management, public relations, marketing and communications, government affairs, and the company’s internal distribution center. Her decisions directly impact the profitability of Gate Petroleum’s 72 convenience stores.
• Under her leadership, the company’s merchandising team is responsible for 80 percent of all store merchandise sales. She also oversees the GATE Cross Dock team, which services 50 stores in the greater Jacksonville area. In 2021, Skipper led efforts to launch the retailer’s first-ever loyalty program, My GATE Rewards.
• According to her direct reports, Skipper makes every team member feel respected and valued, empowers them to make informed decisions while offering support when course correction is needed, and fosters camaraderie and collaboration.
Senior Director, Americas — Convenience & Away From Home, Glanbia Performance
Nutrition
Jean
Terminiello
Vice President of Operations,
High’s
Michele Truelove
Director of Industry Affairs,
The Coca-Cola Co.
Paula Weeks
Senior Director,
Experiential Marketing,
Reynolds American Inc.
Jessica Wright
• A CPG veteran with more than
20 years of senior leadership experience, Terminiello worked with her team to pioneer the expansion of Optimum Nutrition Amin.O Energy Sparkling and think! high-protein snacks across c-stores nationwide.
• Known for being an entrepreneur at heart who has brought Glanbia brands to market through best-in-industry retail programming and customer relationships, she oversaw the creation of the GPN First Center of Excellence. She also built a world-class immediate consumption distribution network and a national account team dedicated to joint business planning with retailers, resulting in category captainships and impressive growth in the nutrition performance market.
• Terminiello is a member of Glanbia’s Network of Women and serves as a mentor within the organization. She’s earned awards for her support of company values, and recognition as the top female mentor and performance coach for colleagues at all levels.
• Truelove started at High’s as a store manager in 2008 and has since risen through the ranks with a heavy focus on store operations and efficiencies. In her current role, she implemented and rolled out High’s mystery shop program and its use of the Zenput platform.
• According to her nominator, Truelove has embraced High’s people-first culture, with an emphasis on future-focused store designs. She spearheaded the company’s strategic direction to improve employee engagement, took part in succession planning and career path development for associates and managers, and led efforts to communicate, pivot and maintain business at all locations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Truelove is driven as a mentor for both corporate and site-level employees and consistently focuses on making day-to-day operations the best they can be for her team. She’s been recognized by High’s for her teamwork and contributions to company objectives.
• Weeks develops and advances executive-level relationships with customers, industry associations and external business partners; brings Coca-Cola’s value proposition to life; and leverages and maximizes partnerships, education and advocacy opportunities.
• According to her nominator, Weeks’ impactful work has allowed for opportunities that extend her influence globally, and she has consulted on multiple industry events that benefit from her extensive knowledge of the convenience channel. Additionally, her diverse career, which includes roles with Delta Air Lines, Reebok and Nestle, offers her a unique scope that enables her to excel at communications and marketing.
• Outside of her work at Coca-Cola, she serves on the National Restaurant Association Show board of directors, and is a board member of the Georgia Foundation for Public Education and the Governor’s Honors Program Steering Committee, among
other roles.
• Wright works with a team of internal and external partners to develop and execute one-to-one consumer experiential marketing initiatives in service of building brand preference, loyalty and affinity across Reynolds’ product portfolio. Her responsibilities include overseeing a significant national budget and ensuring that all IPA programming is on-strategy, on-brand, on-budget, and advances both consumer and business metrics.
• Under her leadership, the experiential team and their partners are projected to engage with more than 1.2 million adult nicotine consumers in 2022, with almost all engagements linked directly to a unit sold. As the face of Reynolds’ product portfolio, Wright’s team of brand ambassadors are helping to drive positive business outcomes for both the company and its c-store partners.
• Wright is a past recipient of the Reynolds American Leadership Team Award for her contributions to driving record Newport volume and value share gains.
• Bakunina manages the team supporting the Fuel Rewards program and its configuration in the PDI loyalty host and app for 12,500 Shell sites across the United States. She also supports the 360 Convenience program at 1,800-plus sites, and other in-store offers at 1,900 locations.
• Her Shell corporate team has referred to Bakunina as the glue that holds it together. She is known for her positive energy, attention to detail, hunger for knowledge, and belief that a commitment to continuous learning is the key to solving future problems.
• Dedicated to both customer care and process improvement, Bakunina has been promoted three times in five years since joining PDI. She’s led the charge to automate several processes, and has been recognized for proactively putting processes and scorecards in place to quickly resolve operational issues.
SENIOR-LEVEL LEADERS
Rising Stars
Senior Manager, Strategic Accounts, PDI
Katerina Bakunina
Retail Zone Leader,
Kwik Trip Inc.
Michelle Barnett
Store Manager,
Rutter’s
Megan Binkley
Senior National Account
Manager, McLane Co. Inc.
Katie
Bondy
• A 24-year Kwik Trip veteran, Barnett is responsible for the successful operation and financial performance of 125 stores, with more than 5,000 direct reports. This fall, she will add two stores in Michigan, spearheading Kwik Trip’s entry into the state.
• Barnett oversees the hiring, training and professional development of district leaders, store leaders and assistant store leaders, and serves on the shelf tag and price change committees for the entire company. She is also actively involved in companywide improvements to Kwik Trip’s performance appraisal system.
• Barnett is a multiple-time winner of the annual Kwik Chase competition, which is based on store and district performance in sales and guest service. She also has a proven track record of developing leaders within the company.
• Since joining Rutter’s 11 years ago, Binkley has steadily assumed more responsibility and excelled at every position she has attained. She is known as an excellent role model for store employees, as she continues to meet everyday challenges head-on.
• In her current role, she effectively manages the operation of a high-volume Rutter’s convenience store by planning, organizing, directing, controlling, and leading others to maximize profitability and achieve company goals.
• Binkley is a member of Rutter’s Advisory Board. She has received numerous internal company awards, including Rutter’s Team Member of the Year in 2016, and finalist for Store Manager of the Year in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021.
• Bondy is responsible for managing all aspects of product distribution through McLane for Circle K Great Lakes. One of her most recent projects involved rolling out and monitoring the progress of the foodservice program for Circle K stores, which required her to offset supply chain challenges and find creative solutions for product outages.
• During her time with McLane, she has spearheaded numerous special projects and implemented processes that have streamlined information flow and product execution for the entire Circle K team. She’s also conducted research and begun the process of developing a comprehensive sales
training program
• Bondy is well-known as a mentor
and team leader who works hard
to develop other managers and encourages employees and teammates to engage in training opportunities and seek out paths for personal growth.
Senior Commercial
Marketing Manager,
Heineken USA
Stephanie Bruns
District Manager,
Casey’s General Stores Inc.
Julie Burke
Senior Manager of Retail Solutions & E-commerce, RaceTrac Inc.
Mckenzie Coleman
Division Manager,
Alta Convenience
Maria Esquer
• Bruns develops all national marketing programs for the convenience channel, including full digital strategy development, customer specific activations, e-commerce, customer app activity, and creation of Heineken’s full suite of point-of-sale materials.
• Her accomplishments include using digital gamification on retailer technology and customer-focused efforts, in turn driving increased foot traffic and total sales, as well as growing total business and basket size for the company’s retail partners.
• Bruns is known as a passionate marketer who thrives on exceeding customer expectations and driving best-in-class results. According to her nominator, she is not only the most respected trade/commercial marketing manager at Heineken USA, but also a go-to person within the industry for ideas and promotional creation.
• Burke oversees the care, performance and profitability of 11 Casey’s stores and assists in executing strategic initiatives, driving sales, and maintaining quality and service standards.
• She has been influencing the success of the Region Model Market since 2020 and currently places within the top 20 percent of Casey’s Performance Matrix. She regularly takes on additional responsibilities within the region, and is seen as a valuable resource for her people and a leader among her peers.
• In addition to her role at Casey’s, Burke is a student at Iowa Central Community College, where she is pursuing a degree in business management. She also has a passion for helping those struggling with addiction and spends much of her free time traveling to provide support to those in need.
• As a leader in the merchandising department, Coleman is responsible for ensuring that retail technology and data are meeting the needs of the business, while also leading the e-commerce sales strategy to drive incremental revenue for RaceTrac.
• According to her nominator, she is always willing to dive into a business problem headfirst and figure out a solution from the ground up. Her passion to find the best possible solutions pushes everyone in the department to collaborate to make
it happen.
• During her time with RaceTrac, Coleman has worked her way up through the ranks, first as an individual contributor and now as a trusted leader of others. She is actively involved in RaceTrac’s business resource group, LEAD, which supports women with self-development, so they can confidently trust in their own abilities, capacities and judgments.
• Esquer supervises multiple territories and stores in southern Colorado. Over
her 15 years with Alta Convenience, she has worked across many different aspects of the company, contributing to her depth of experience and knowledge of the industry.
• She is a multiple-time winner of Manager of the Month and Manager of the Quarter awards, and has mentored store managers who later received the same awards. According to her nominator, she has a firm but fair management style that results in respect from her peers and all who work for her.
• As division manager, Esquer took
a difficult area and turned it into a model division that now serves
as the company benchmark. Alta
Convenience considers her to be a top performer in all aspects of her position.
Director, Global Military Sales, Anheuser-Busch
Erin
Kohne
Senior Director of Sales, PBNA, PepsiCo Inc.
Toral Kothari
Director of Architecture
& Engineering, Maverik — Adventure’s First Stop
Sarah Kovac
Central Operations
Specialist, GetGo Café & Market
Kelsey Leighton
• Lestochi oversees the ready-
to-eat hot and cold food and bakery segments for Sheetz. She contributes to long-term strategic work elevating the multi-million-dollar, revenue-driving segments while running
day-to-day tasks that include product selection and placement, pricing, promotional work, and internal product development through the Sheetz commissary.
• According to her nominator, Lestochi’s influence is vast across the organization. She is known as a subject matter expert who is always the first person contacted when there is a question or concern regarding prepared foods or bakery.
• With a background in food science and flavor application, Lestochi has used her knowledge, expertise, drive and commitment to make major contributions to Sheetz’s food and beverage programs. She has received multiple company awards.
• Kohne provides sales direction, program execution and overall account management, while leading a team that spans the country and the globe. She is responsible for total account sales, budget, and international logistics.
• According to her nominator, Kohne’s work has brought significant improvements to the vendor-
managed inventory process, positively impacting the company’s overall military business and delivering channel growth despite pandemic and logistics challenges.
• She is dedicated to driving growth for Anheuser-Busch’s military retail partners, while delivering excitement, value and a taste of home to U.S. troops stationed overseas and here in the United States. Kohne is a multiple-time recipient of the selective and challenging AB Hi5 and Revolution awards.
• As the leader of retail sales in the Metro Atlantic region, Kothari manages $1.5 billion in revenue across six high-growth states. She plays a major role in creating the division’s long-term strategy in order to achieve the company’s overall growth objectives.
• Kothari is known for having a great command on business and a focus on spending considerable time keeping up on industry trends to help support her many customer wins.
• She recently won the Harvey C. Russell Award, PepsiCo’s most prestigious award, for her work on Stop Asian Hate. She also supports numerous female empowerment groups such as NextUp, has co-chaired PepsiCo’s Women of Color employee resource group (ERG), and currently co-chairs the PepsiCo Asian Network ERG.
• Kovac oversees store and site design for Maverik’s nearly 400 locations across 12 states. She is also responsible for the internal architecture, engineering and entitlements teams, focused on providing schematic designs, construction documentation, construction administration, and entitling new store sites in support of the company’s aggressive growth strategy.
• In 2021, Kovac’s team spearheaded a comprehensive design across 27 new-build stores, one rebuild and 34 remodels, an achievement that was made possible by her strategic and seamless collaboration with cross-functional teams across Maverik.
• According to her nominator, she is a highly effective leader who recognizes the strengths of her team members, listens to their input, supports their endeavors, and is able to merge good advice from others with her own experience to create the best solutions.
• Leighton has direct influence over all 270-plus GetGo locations and has guided stores through the ins and outs of every aspect of the company’s fresh business, from new equipment rollouts to fresh inventory management.
• She also manages the company’s leadership training content. This includes creating team member methods for other departments within GetGo headquarters and overseeing every step from the time of hire to graduation from training.
• Since joining GetGo in 2010 as a part-time team member, Leighton has been continually promoted. She is heavily involved in GE Proud, the company’s LGBTQ+ Business Resource Group, as well as its Women’s Business Resource Group.
Prepared Foods Category Leader, Sheetz Inc.
Jennifer Lestochi
Director, Acquisition Integration,
Casey’s General Stores Inc.
Kim Lippert
Sales Director, PBNA,
PepsiCo Inc.
Sara Martindale
Director of Talent Development,
Sheetz Inc.
Erin Matosziuk
• Lippert leads all aspects of acquisition integration for Casey’s, overseeing the integration of more than 200 stores over the past year. During acquisitions, she coordinates business functions such as store operations, merchandising, marketing, finance, IT, and more.
• Since joining Casey’s in 1993 as a doughnut maker, Lippert has held multiple leadership roles and served at every level of operations as she’s steadily advanced into higher positions. In her current role, she recently oversaw a $580 million, 95-store acquisition.
• According to her nominator, Lippert brings deep experience in operations, strong interpersonal skills and servant leadership to her role, and has proven herself to be the ideal leader in the
acquisitions process.
• Martindale joined PepsiCo 12 years ago and today is the 7-Eleven director of sales for Gatorade, energy drinks, juice, water, and protein drinks. She oversees space management, promotions and financial planning for leading brands such as Gatorade, Rockstar Energy, Tropicana, Aquafina, LifeWtr, and Muscle Milk.
• Previously, Martindale served on the Tropicana Juice team at the time of the business’ transition from a distributor to a DSD. She leveraged new chilled delivery technology to convert more than 70 percent of the 7-Eleven business.
• Martindale has received multiple accolades for her work at PBNA, including sales leadership awards.
As a PepsiCo NextUp lead, she is a champion of developing female leaders within PepsiCo. Through the sales associate onboarding/recruiting program, she actively recruits at Texas A&M, seeking new strong female talent.
• Reporting to the vice president of human resources, Matosziuk is accountable for a team of more than 50 professionals that oversee three significant talent areas for Sheetz: workforce training, leadership development and talent management.
• She has been instrumental in several significant strategic initiatives to improve the training, development and performance of Sheetz’s workforce, including the companywide implementation of STRIVE, a performance management process. Prior to joining Sheetz in 2011, she served as an HR specialist and held various management roles in the hospitality industry.
• Matosziuk is co-leader of the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (I.D.E.A.) initiative, which is part of Sheetz’s corporate strategy. She also helped launch the company’s first-ever Women’s Leadership Program, which will see its third cohort this year.
Marketing Manager,
Enmarket
Melody McCarthy
National Accounts Director,
ITG Brands
Caylin McCombs
Senior Account Manager,
Altria Group Distribution Co.
Alexandra McGuire
Director of Operations Programs, Technology
& Planning, Thorntons LLC
Erica Murray
• McCarthy joined the Enmarket team in 2017 as social media and content coordinator before being promoted to her current position in 2019. Over her tenure, she has helped design, launch and market the retailer’s Enjoy Rewards loyalty program, the Enmarket mobile app, and enPay, its proprietary payment card.
• In February, McCarthy led a successful “Win Back” campaign in which she created targeted promotions driven by Paytronix artificial intelligence (AI) to win back lapsed customers with personalized, one-to-one offers through the Enjoy Rewards program. Going forward, she plans to expand the use of Paytronix AI to increase customers’ basket sizes and encourage new purchases they wouldn’t otherwise make.
• McCarthy serves on a steering committee at Enmarket to help vet
and mold new ideas and corporate initiatives. She is also the lead for all
corporate events.
• McCombs leads three national account managers, driving sales performance and strategic initiatives for national account customers, and is directly responsible for ITG Brands’ largest national chain customer. Over the past two years, she earned category captaincy, drove more than 41,000 new points of distribution for ITG Brands, and created sustainable volume growth across category segments.
• She also worked cross-functionally to implement the FMC Assortment Optimization Project and MMC Strategic Promotion Design, both new test-and-learn programs that were lifted and shifted to other national account customers.
• McCombs is a strong believer in speaking up to drive change, mentorship programs to cultivate internal talent, and leading by example. She is a steering committee member for the company’s Women’s Business Employee Resource Group, and participates in talent recruitment.
• McGuire began her career with Altria 10 years ago and has held several field sales force positions within the company. She spent the last four years in various HQ roles, including leading the company’s underage access prevention efforts at retail. McGuire currently serves as a senior account manager calling on Wawa Inc., where she influences and develops solutions for the retailer’s tobacco category.
• She played a critical role in leading the launch of Altria’s Age Validation Technology initiative, which included establishing the company’s sponsorship of TruAge, a digital solution from NACS that enhances current age-verification systems and protects user privacy.
• McGuire is a board member of the University of Florida-Philadelphia Area Chapter Alumni, where she chairs an annual golf tournament to raise money for scholarships.
• Murray joined Thorntons seven years ago, starting as a store general manager. Today, she leads a team of six and oversees the development of store operations processes, initiatives, strategic goals, objectives and technology enhancements to drive operational efficiency. She also influences and supports strategic objectives of the Operational Engineering and Training Teams, along with managing the Operations Project Management Team.
• In 2021, Murray was instrumental in Thorntons’ transition to a new enterprise resource planning system and served on The Twenty, a cross-functional task force responsible for taking employee feedback and making recommendations to the board of directors and executive staff on creating good jobs across the organization.
• She is co-chair of Thorntons’ DEI&I Committee and has a passion for paving the way for future women leaders to thrive, as well as driving equity and inclusion.
• Watson joined Thorntons in August 2018 as a store manager in Louisville, Ky., and was later promoted to general manager (GM) and led a challenging inner-city store in Louisville. Given her success as a GM and her overall operations experience, she was promoted to her current position in July 2021.
• She now supports the fresh food management team with the implementation of marketing plans and promotions, and ensures all new products are launched successfully.
• Watson created #FoodFriday during the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to engage team members and launched it on Thorntons Insiders, the company’s private Facebook group for team members. Since its inception, the level of engagement on Thorntons Insiders has jumped 179 percent, and fresh food sales have increased 7 percent. Additional departments have reached out to Watson for insights and best practices in order to replicate the #FoodFriday model.
Category Specialist,
ExtraMile Convenience Stores
Ann
Myint
Director, Procurement,
Murphy USA Inc.
Kellye Ogle
COCO Business Consultant, Chevron USA Inc.
Karylann Oxley
Senior Manager, External Communications,
7-Eleven Inc.
Dea Pennington
• Myint has extensive experience in the retail industry, ranging from in-store positions at drugstores to corporate merchandising in convenience. She joined Chevron prior to the ExtraMile joint venture, serving in a variety of roles supporting all categories in the store, with a focus on tobacco.
• In her current position, she supports the tobacco and supply chain category manager in ongoing business-building tasks across 1,000-plus ExtraMile stores in more than seven states. These tasks include the intricacies of tobacco pricing, buydowns, promotions, loyalty deals, and more.
• Myint is the go-to individual on her team for troubleshooting, advice, training and support across her peer group. According to ExtraMile President Paul Casadont, “Ann’s attention to detail, passion for merchandising, positive attitude and ability to deliver results provide a tremendous benefit to ExtraMile.”
• Ogle began her career at Murphy
USA in 2013 as senior buyer and quickly transitioned into various management roles leading up to her recent promotion to director. Her 20 years of procurement experience consists not only of her time with the convenience retailer, but also with state agencies and government contractors.
• Working cross-functionally with other departments, Ogle oversees vendor management, supply chain risk management, data analysis, contract negotiations, and business relationships with internal and
external customers.
• Through her leadership, influence and conscientious stewardship, she and her team of eight achieved 12.4 percent cost savings in 2021. She is also lauded for driving a successful integration with QuickChek, refining processes and creating synergistic savings.
• Oxley is responsible for more than 180 employees across company-owned, company-operated (COCO) Chevron stations. She serves as a mentor to her retail employees, actively working with them to achieve success in their current roles and advance into other career opportunities.
• She was responsible for congruently launching the MyADP human resources information system and TalentReef recruiting platform for Chevron’s retail employee network. Her project management leadership was recognized with the Measurable Value Award for her work on these projects, which drove IT solutions, streamlined processes, and saved manual labor across COCO.
• In the community, Oxley supported the SOMA District in San Francisco by working closely with nonprofit groups in the city’s Department of Public Works and police departments to ensure safeguards were in place at the highest CAP index station in COCO.
• Pennington oversees public relations, reputational crisis management, and executive visibility/thought leadership for 7-Eleven, Speedway, Stripes, Laredo Taco Co., and Raise the Roost Chicken & Biscuits.
• In July 2021, she was promoted
to her current position, assuming
full responsibility of external comm-
unications, while also stepping in to manage video production. One of
her accomplishments last year was planning and executing 7-Eleven’s
first-ever Tentpole Event Activation. Known as Gamer’s Paradise, the program won a 2022 PRovoke Media SABRE North America Award for
best experiential publicity stunt.
• Pennington has also supported the company’s digital transformation, including major initiatives such as mobile checkout expansion, alcohol and autonomous delivery partnerships, and cashierless store innovation. Additionally, she’s supported
7-Eleven’s unprecedented store growth, including the addition of Evolution Stores, Laredo Taco Co. and Raise the Roost Chicken & Biscuits restaurants, and several acquisitions.
Director, IT Strategy & Change Management, Alimentation
Couche-Tard Inc./Circle K
Kelly
Rand
Senior Director, People Support, Maverik — Adventure’s
First Stop
Ashley Ray
Director of Digital Marketing
& Personalization,
Casey’s General Stores Inc.
Jenny Rinehart
Marketing Director, Gulf Coast Business Unit, Alimentation
Couche-Tard Inc./Circle K
Julie Rodgers
• A seasoned change management professional with 15 years of experience, Rand joined Couche-Tard in 2020 and is responsible for the effective adoption of technology across the retailer’s global network of 15,000 sites and 125,000 employees.
• She is an integral member of the team that helps ensure that customer tech programs, such as loyalty and self-checkout, and employee tech programs, such as task management and time scheduling, are set up for success through clear roles, proactive communication, field change readiness, and training.
• Prior to joining Couche-Tard, Rand spent 10 years at McDonald’s Corp. in various change leadership roles, influencing major programs such as the
company’s first mobile app, digital menuboards, back-office upgrades, and restaurant improvements.
• Ray's level of responsibility has grown at a rapid pace during her
16-plus years with Maverik. She
started as a benefits coordinator
in a two-person department and has been instrumental in shaping the direction of human resources initiatives as the function has grown to more than 36 team members.
• In her current position, Ray leads
the HR Operations Team along with
the HR business partners, who provide support to Maverik’s nearly 7,200
team members across 385-plus stores operating in 12 western states.
• Ray has been identified as an internal Maverik mentor, and is co-chair of Limitless, Maverik’s employee resource group that focuses on diversity, inclusion and leadership development efforts. She is a multiple winner of the retailer’s coveted Defender of the Legend award, where recipients are nominated and selected by operations leaders.
• Rodgers started her career as an operator supporting the Gulf Coast Business Unit, where she was awarded Market Manager of the Year four times and Regional Director of the Year twice. She was in the first cohort of participants selected for Emerging Leaders, the company’s 18-month leadership development program.
• Her tenure with Circle K has been marked by channel-leading
results across the company’s key operational metrics. She plays a critical role in various high-level projects, while developing strategic marketing promotions and overseeing 19 team members. She was recently recognized as the Regional Director of Operations of the Year.
• “Julie truly is an inspiration to many, including countless women in the Circle K organization who admire her and value her leadership. She is genuinely effective in what she does — it’s the combination of being operationally focused and always having the stores in mind, along with the exceptional people skills,” her nominator noted.
• Rinehart has been with Casey’s for more than a decade, starting her career in advertising. She joined the Digital Experience Team at the start of Casey’s digital transformation in 2018. As director of digital marketing and personalization, she is now a member of the Digital Leadership Team.
• She led Casey’s personalization expansion strategy, implementing a customer data platform (CDP) and made progress in mass personalization as the retailer shifted from curation toward segmentation and individualization. In the past year, Rinehart led the launch of Casey’s Salesforce CDP, helped grow Casey’s Rewards to more than 5 million members, and drove data unification and design across teams and products.
• Rinehart recently completed Casey’s Leader Excellence Program, an internal program designed to support mid-level high-potential talent, and completed the Northwestern Kellogg NACS Marketing Leadership Program in 2020.
Senior Manager, Customer Planning & Development,
Tyson Foods
Megan Sandlin
Hy-Vee Fast & Fresh
Supervisor, Hy-Vee Inc.
Julie Seefus
IT Service Desk Manager,
Yesway
Gina Sorensen
Director of Convenience Sales, General Mills
April Stanford
• Sandlin is responsible for partnering with both Tyson sales and operators as an advocate to link operator strategies and business opportunities that drive mutual growth through customer and channel insights, marketing strategies/activations, menu analysis, and product solutions. She was Tyson’s Customer Promise Award winner in 2020.
• With experience as both a retailer and manufacturer, Sandlin brings innovative products to the forefront and helps set industry trends through a thoughtful and creative approach. In addition to providing support to Tyson’s national sales team, she attends and helps drive customer engagement in partnership with the sales team.
• Over the last year, in conjunction with the sales side, Sandlin gained new category growth within some key convenience operators to add incremental volume of 3 million-plus pounds of Tyson Foods product.
• A 25-year Hy-Vee veteran, Seefus has held several management positions across the company. In her current role, she oversees more than 20 c-store locations in Nebraska and western Iowa, and is responsible for the enhancement and growth of these stores. This includes, but is not limited to, fuel and inside sales, educating and training staff on products, ordering merchandise, reporting profit and loss, and store operations management.
• To stay competitive, Seefus analyzes the market and ensures products and company initiatives are consistent throughout all stores. Although this is her first year in the role, she has elevated her stores to achieve a 38-percent increase in sales.
• Outside of work, she is involved in her local community, most notably working with local schools to provide food and supplies to underprivileged children. She began a program within her stores to collect winter weather gear for schools.
• Sorensen leverages 18 years of IT experience to implement continuous improvement programs, and is quick
to offer assistance to other areas of IT. She developed the Yesway service desk organization, which manages the technical support of more than 400 stores 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
• Other key initiatives that she has led include the implementation of Service Now, which captures and analyzes core issues and identifies patterns across stores; and the rollout of a new on-call program that enables quicker responses to critical situations. She will begin budgetary responsibilities for her area in early 2023.
• Sorensen is passionate about her staff and ensuring they have a voice in the direction of future business support. One of her staff members is learning to become a junior systems administrator, while another is actively training to be a field technician.
• A 26-year veteran of General Mills, Stanford has held numerous positions and led teams across multiple cross-functional parts of the organization, including sales, marketing, trade, category management, and sales operations.
• As director of convenience sales,
she leads a team with responsibility for end-to-end business management, including profit and loss, sales strategies, and long-range planning. She oversees and leads the more than $200-million business across convenience distributors and more than $80-million business across convenience retailers.
• Stanford is a member of the Southern Association of Wholesale Distributors and Women in Foodservice. She has received multiple accolades throughout her career, including Great Manager of the Year, Director’s Club, and UniPro Supplier of the Year.
Category Manager,
Tobacco & Loyalty,
Weigel’s Stores Inc.
Jessica Starnes
Category Manager, Dispensed Beverages, Yesway
Jasmine Struble
Product Marketing Manager,
Stuzo
Sandra Sydlik
Senior National Account Manager, PFNA, PepsiCo Inc.
Kristen Turner
• Starnes is a NACS certified category manager who joined Weigel’s in 2010, where she has been instrumental in building a gold standard pricebook team for the company.
• In addition to being the category manager for tobacco and Weigel’s loyalty program — which has grown to more than 400,000 users — Starnes handles most of the analytical work of the company by helping IT on a daily basis, overseeing the pricebook team, and keeping the marketing team moving forward.
• Described as “the lynchpin of the organization,” Starnes’ office is usually filled with department leaders seeking help with issues. She is lauded for
her natural ability to collaborate with all departments to help solve both short- and long-term goals.
Having led hundreds of projects
over the years, she is a significant contributor to Weigel’s success.
• Struble is a globally skilled purchasing professional with seven years of foodservice experience. As the dispensed beverage category manager, she influences sustainable results through cross-team partnerships and strategic negotiations. She is passionate about playing a key role in environmental transformation projects and supplier inclusivity.
• Prior to joining Yesway, Struble managed food and beverage categories for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. She adapted quickly to the convenience channel and led the rollout of Yesway’s Bean To Cup coffee program, which ultimately resulted in an increase in sales, shrink reduction, and a jump in profitability. She is also lauded for introducing more cold and frozen dispensed offerings in an efficient and quick manner so that Yesway could keep pace with its aggressive remodeling schedule.
• Struble was named a Convenience Store News Future Leader in Convenience in 2021. She represents Yesway as a board member of the Young Executives Organization.
• Sydlik works closely with the product, sales and customer success teams to drive product strategy, and executes plans for how Stuzo goes to market with new products and product capabilities. She is responsible for managing certain portions of
Stuzo’s marketing budget and oversees the marketing design and engineering team.
• She led the company’s qualitative and quantitative research efforts on the digital capabilities of the top convenience and fuel retailers to create Stuzo’s Market Insights Platform.
• Sydlik also led research efforts on consumer sentiment regarding loyalty, digital commerce and customer experience, which became Stuzo’s Consumer Insights Platform, and was the lead creative force behind the concepts Stuzo created and turned into its Future Vision Insights Platform.
• Turner has spent her nine-year professional career at PepsiCo within the Frito-Lay snacking division. During this time, she’s acquired CPG and retail experience through frontline operational leadership and customer management roles, primarily in the dollar and convenience channels.
• Representing Frito-Lay’s expansive portfolio, Turner heavily influences salty snack retail execution strategy through collaborative joint business planning processes using market data and insights.
• In addition to being an active member of NextUp, Turner mentors colleagues across the organization to help raise the bar on talent and diversity through formal and informal mentorship programs, such
as the PEP Summer Intern Program, Women Inclusion Network mentoring circles, and routine touchpoints with new team members to support individualized onboarding and successful integration into their roles.
Fresh Food Support Coordinator, Thorntons LLC
Tavay Watson
Customer Development Director, Coca-Cola Consolidated Inc.
Renee Williams
Director, Consumer & Market Intelligence, ITG Brands
Elaine
Yee
• In her second year as customer development director, Williams has become the first female to lead the Circle K business at Coca-Cola Consolidated. Among her responsibilities are business development and sales execution while building a rapport to achieve a strategic partnership with her customer.
• During the COVID-19 pandemic, she successfully collaborated with her customer and internal business partners to continue to deliver on collective goals. She quickly pivoted to a virtual environment and exceeded her annual revenue, volume and gross profit targets.
• With the addition of unprecedented supply chain and labor challenges, Williams has partnered with her customer to create solutions and alternative routes to market and crisis management. She brings more than 10 years of experience in convenience retailing into her role.
• Yee is responsible for driving insights across databases covering more than 1 million adult consumers and 300,000 retailers. She compels action with empathetic adult consumer and shopper insights; and connects customer, category and competitive intelligence to anticipate market shifts and uncover profitable growth opportunities.
• The 25-year CPG veteran has been awarded category captaincy among four of ITG Brands’ top chain customers and has driven more than 150,000 new points of distribution across her portfolio of customers. Additionally, she led a complicated
and strategic assortment optimization initiative, launching nationally across a 1,000-member sales force that spans from sales representatives to chain account managers. The program drives strong velocity, revenue, and share performance.
• A diversity and inclusion champion, Yee is a co-lead in building ITG Brands’ Global Ethnicity Employee Resource Group. Additionally, for the last decade, she has helped up-and-coming young professionals in the Asian-American community.
Mentors
Division Director of Sales & Operations, Murphy USA Inc.
Nancy Andrus
Director, Learning & Development, Murphy USA Inc.
Anne Cauthron
Director of Solutions Delivery,
Maverik — Adventure’s First Stop
Karin
Dahl
Director, Global Communications,
Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc./Circle K
Letty George
• Andrus leads 180 Murphy USA c-store leaders across seven midwestern states. In addition to training new directors in the field during onboarding, she recently identified a gap in the certified training manager role, developed an action plan to address it, and ensured that every district had a certified training manager by the end of 2021.
• According to her nominator, Andrus makes mentorship of others a central point of focus. She utilizes every opportunity to help others realize their development and career aspirations, which has fundamentally shaped her division’s internal talent pipeline.
• Andrus believes that it is her duty as a leader to pay it forward and bring others along by investing in their development and providing the resources they need to be the best version of themselves. It is the part of her job she loves most.
• Cauthron leads enterprise-wide learning, development and corporate communications at Murphy USA. Her duties include overseeing leadership training events, workshops and the rollout of the company’s e-learning platform.
• In 2021 alone, she mentored more than 10 people within the company, while also leading the organization’s diversity and inclusion effort, and serving as a thought leader driving multiyear efforts to enhance the employee experience.
• Cauthron also serves as a company culture ambassador. She is passionate about Murphy USA’s “Develops People” core competency and enjoys mentoring others, both in the company and community. She takes pride in the fact that at Murphy USA, employees empower each other to fuel a brighter future for themselves and their families.
• Dahl oversees the development of internal software applications and manages a team of application developers, architects and data management professionals. She implemented a new loyalty engine, and has transformed how the company develops applications.
• As an internal Maverik mentor, she is relied upon for identifying talent that fits the corporate culture, and developing team members for advancement opportunities.
• According to her nominator, management, coaching and mentorship are some of her strongest traits, which are demonstrated through the consistent development, professional progress, and ultimate successes of her direct reports. Dahl goes the extra mile to ensure her individual team members are set up for success, and has changed the trajectories of numerous team members for the better.
• With 22 years in the industry and extensive experience in strategic and employee communications, George plays a vital role on Couche-Tard’s Global People Team and has been instrumental in the company’s diversity and inclusion work. She serves on the Executive D&I Council, while expanding her skillset through the D&I Executive Leadership Program at Cornell University.
• Her nominator noted that George is a “shining example” of what a mentor should and can be. She sincerely cares about the personal and professional development of others, whether they are her peers, store team members, or executive leaders. In past years, she created an internal awards program that encouraged store employees to reach for excellence and be honored for their contributions.
• As the communication partner for every business resource group at Couche-Tard, George shares their stories, challenges and accomplishments.
Vice President — Sales
Infrastructure & Trade Marketing,
Altria Group Distribution Co.
Jessica Hendrickson
Executive Store Leader,
GetGo Café & Market
Lisa
Klamer
President, Sales Agency,
CROSSMARK
Jami McDermid
Executive Director
of Environmental
& Licensing, RaceTrac Inc.
Angela
Pimental
• After holding various leadership roles within the Altria family of companies, Hendrickson currently oversees the organization responsible for developing trade marketing, sales strategies and operations support to enable the field salesforce to create the best in-store experience for the adult tobacco consumer.
• As a steward for the development and advancement of women, she has played a key role in the growth and development of Altria’s broader organization. She personally led the development and implementation of the company’s executive development program for women, titled Women Executives Leading and Learning. The program combines enterprise business immersions, executive mentor pairings, personalized external executive coaching, and leader skill development.
• Hendrickson is also a founding member of the Women in Sales Network employee resource group, which has more than 800 members.
• Klamer has been with parent company Giant Eagle and GetGo for more than 35 years and has held multiple roles within its supermarkets and c-stores. In addition to the day-to-day operations of her store, which has annual inside sales of $4.4 million and sells 3.8 million fuel gallons annually, she is the first line of contact for team member relations, oversees inventory management and on-budget performance, and monitors compliance measures.
• She is lauded for playing a role in the continued development of hundreds of team members and leaders for the organization, and is considered
a resource and mentor to dozens on a day-to-day basis.
• Klamer has led multiple successful pilot programs and is currently working on a Giant Eagle/GetGo program to develop team members who are differently abled.
• McDermid manages new business development, customer management and client execution for CROSSMARK. In addition to overseeing project-based teams, she is responsible for the dedicated merchandising and selling teams that call on more than 2,000 independent convenience stores.
• Her role supports teams in both the United States and Canada, which represent more than 500 CPG clients across all major brand categories within more than 250 unique retailers. Convenience is one of CROSSMARK’s largest retail channels.
• McDermid founded the company’s mentorship program, which established a formal process to pair mentees with likeminded leaders within the broader organization. The inaugural cohort included more than 20 mentor volunteers, accounting for 10 percent of CROSSMARK’s leadership staff,
and drew hundreds of mentee applications. The program was
so successful that it doubled
in size in its second year.
• Pimental leads RaceTrac’s environmental and licensing functions, which support its convenience stores, franchise division, and wholly owned subsidiaries. Functioning as a shared service, she provides support and guidance to all divisions of the company relative to environmental and licensing. She plays a pivotal role in ensuring that RaceTrac is a steward of environmental, tobacco, lottery and alcohol laws in the communities it serves.
• She is the former chair of LEAD, RaceTrac’s business resource group for women. While in the role, Pimental oversaw a group of approximately 50 RaceTrac team members who carry out LEAD’s mission by planning events, programs, internal communications, and development seminars for women and women’s allies throughout the company.
• Pimental is also an ally for RaceTrac’s diversity and inclusion initiatives, and participates as an instructor in the company’s new Leader Development Training program.
Business Development
Manager, Swedish Match
Stephanie Simon
Executive Team Leader,
GetGo Café & Market
Vanessa Turner
• Simon has dedicated 17 years of her career to the CPG industry. PepsiCo’s fast-paced DSD environment prepared her for seizing retail opportunities at Swedish Match, where she has worked for the past 11 years.
• A three-time President’s Circle winner and project management specialist, she drives more than $26 million in annual direct purchases and 35 million product units.
• Recognizing the need for young women to have female mentors within sales, Simon founded Professional Women Rising (PWR), Swedish Match’s first-ever women’s resource group. PWR consists of five female board members who mentor two mentees each. Simon leads the development, recruitment and training of mentor peers and is responsible for developing the mentee curriculum.
• Turner is responsible for all aspects of store operations for her location, while leading 31 team members. Her location is a pilot for the GetGo Forward project, which challenges the status quo and promotes process improvements and simplifications for day-to-day tasks and a more robust training program for new team members.
• She has mentored dozens of team members who are now current leaders of the organization as district leaders, store leaders, café leaders, and assistant store leaders. Over the course of her 18-year career at GetGo, Turner has held many roles and can relate to the team members she mentors because she’s been in their shoes.
• Turner is a key member of GetGo’s Store Leader Council, where she gives vitally important feedback and direction on key issues. She is also a member of the company’s Women’s Business Resource Group.
TOP
Convenience Store News’ ninth-annual Top Women in Convenience (TWIC) awards — presented Oct. 2 in Las Vegas, against the backdrop of the 2022 NACS Show — celebrated a record class of 91 female leaders.
TWIC is the first and only c-store industry program that spotlights the integral
role women play in convenience retailing and celebrates individuals across retailer, distributor and supplier businesses for outstanding contributions to their companies and the industry at large.
The 2022 Top Women in Convenience are:
Founding & Presenting Sponsor:
Platinum Sponsors:
Gold Sponsors:
Silver Sponsors:
Senior Store Leader,
GetGo Café & Market
Elaine Jacobs
• Jacobs leads all aspects of store operations and people leadership at her store, which has annual inside sales of $4.6 million, including $1.2 million of fresh food sales. She serves as the master trainer for her region, impacting many leaders as they onboard to
new roles.
• In addition to her usual responsibilities, she is often called upon to pilot and test new initiatives at her store. She is a multiyear winner of the company’s internal Pilot Award due to her willingness to take part in these programs.
• Jacobs has a passion for developing her own team members and others, often going out of her way to help them tackle and solve tough business problems. She serves on the company’s Store Leadership Council.
