CSN TWIC 2023

TOP

This year’s record class of 91 honorees illustrates how the industry is evolving to better recognize and cultivate female talent.

Founding & Presenting Sponsor:

Platinum Sponsors:

CORPORATE EMPOWERMENT AWARD SPONSOR:

Gold Sponsors:

A Decade of Achievement

The Top Women in Convenience program celebrates its 10th anniversary as another 86 female leaders are welcomed into the fold

WOMeN OF THE YEAR

Convenience Store News’ 10th annual Top Women in Convenience (TWIC) awards — presented Oct. 4 in Atlanta, against the backdrop of the 2023 NACS Show — celebrated an impressive class of 86 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 2023 Top Women in Convenience are:

Treasa Bowers

Kathy Cunnington

Kellie Janssen

Eva Rigamonti

Kathy Williams

SENIOR-LEVEL LEADERS

Director of Corporate Human Resources Yesway

Bonnie Ascioti

President & Chief Operating Officer Southwest Georgia Oil Co.

Glennie Bench

Senior Vice President, Marketing & Education PDI Technologies Inc.

Bethany Allee

CEO TravelCenters of America Inc.

Debi Boffa

Senior Vice President of Asset Development, Real Estate & Maintenance Murphy USA Inc.

Jennifer Bridges

Silver Sponsors:

Bronze Sponsor:

Head of Commerce Marketing Anheuser-Busch

Carolyn Brown

Executive Vice President, Human Resources – People & Culture Swisher

Jacinta Carter

Director of Purchasing Green Valley Grocery

Jessica Catanzaro

• In her role, Ascioti provides direction and counsel across the Yesway organization regarding every aspect of the employee lifecycle, participates in various audit processes related to the business, and is responsible for compliance within the HR function, managing and mitigating risk. • She led an objective review of Yesway’s HR organization in close collaboration with an HR peer and other leaders across the business, making recommendations on changes to the HR structure to better support the business. She also helped decrease labor costs through role consolidation and expansion of responsibilities. • Ascioti significantly improved stakeholder confidence in the corporate HR team by modeling positive and collaborative leadership behaviors in high-stress situations, increasing collaboration and accountability within the HR team, and providing stability for the department, her nominator said.

• Allee is one of 16 members of the senior leadership team at PDI, who together guide the direction and success of the global organization. She is the highest-ranking marketing executive within the company and is expected to be its next chief marketing officer. • She is known among her senior leadership peers to be an executive coach as she is committed to building one-to- one relationships that help guide and elevate each member of the team in their corporate presence, both within the organization and in their external appearances. • Allee oversees the annual PDI Users Conference, which returned in 2022 after a three-year pandemic hiatus. Under her leadership, the return of the conference included attracting new audiences, with 50 percent of 2022 attendees coming for the first time.

• Directly reporting to the company’s CEO Mike Harrell, Bench oversees the leadership team and works with operations, marketing and foodservice to develop and implement the organization’s strategic vision. She also leads the company’s wholesale petroleum division. • She is an integral part of the company’s growth and is at the center of all real estate transactions. In 2015, she spearheaded the effort by Southwest Georgia Oil to purchase 44 S&S stores, more than doubling the company’s SunStop convenience store network. • Bench stays on top of convenience store trends and developed the design concept for the new SunStop stores. Southwest Georgia Oil currently has $15 million to $20 million in capital expenditure projects, which include expanding diesel lanes, interior and exterior renovations at existing stores, and ground-up new stores.

• Following bp’s acquisition of TravelCenters of America (TA), Boffa was named CEO of TA and is working closely with the travel center operator’s leadership team to ensure TA is set up for continued growth and success. She previously served as vice president of convenience and president of the bp Retail Operating Organization (ROO). • Boffa is not new to integration efforts. After being named president of bp’s Thorntons network in late 2021, she led the Thorntons integration project and helped build bp’s U.S. ROO, combining Thorntons’ company-owned/company-operated footprint and store support capabilities with bp’s ampm franchise team on the West Coast, along with bp assets. • She has more than 25 years of experience in the convenience and fuel industry in New Zealand, Australia and the United States, having worked in roles across retail, sales, marketing, operations and strategy with a background in engineering.

• Serving as the senior vice president of asset development, Bridges’ vision has transformed the asset development program by solidifying the network planning strategy, evolving the new store development process, establishing the property management group, and transforming the way Murphy USA approaches maintenance. • She has led several strategic initiatives at Murphy USA, including maintenance transformation and the creation of the Maintenance Response Team, the reorganization of asset development, the expansion of new store growth strategies to a larger pipeline, and the introduction of network planning to store investment decisions. • As a leader of the company’s capital allocation campaign in 2022, Bridges drove the strategy around portfolio growth and investment, as well as helped the organization understand the trade-offs with alternative capital investments.

• Brown tapped her more than 10 years of experience in the beer industry and digital commerce space to bring new solutions to drive Anheuser-Busch’s c-store business as digitized shopping increased in penetration post-COVID. • She took a lead role in reshaping the company’s 2023 commerce marketing strategy to drive more explicit focus against the convenience store shopper in a meaningful way, including researching shopper groups that over-index to the channel and their media consumption habits relative to the general population. • Brown worked with Anheuser-Busch’s in-house creative agency DraftLine to create relevant custom creative for digital media executions, and developed a new media mix and geographic target set to maximize the impact of media pressure while securing budget allocation to operation-alize the campaign in 2023.

• Carter has successfully transformed Swisher’s approach to employee engagement, talent management, organizational development, compliance, corporate communications, and employee and labor relations. People, not positions, are her priority when working with colleagues. • She has oversight of the strategic direction and leadership of Swisher’s human resources functions. This encompasses talent acquisition, performance management, learning and development, corporate communications, compensation, compliance and many other nuanced areas. • Over the past year, Carter rolled out an all-encompassing professional development program, dubbed Me@Swisher, to provide employees with the tools and resources they need to work and grow within the company. Additionally, she standardized and streamlined countless processes and procedures, introduced new technologies to improve her team’s effectiveness, and advanced operational changes to improve the responsiveness, reliability and sustainability of the HR function.

• Catanzaro oversees all Green Valley Grocery retail locations’ revenue, gross profit dollars, inventory levels, and the ultimate profitability of the company. She is also responsible for marketing, including sponsorships, community requests, and interior and exterior graphics. • She works closely with the real estate team and general contractors on new store builds, and is responsible for sourcing, ordering and tracking equipment for the builds. • According to her nominator, Catanzaro’s strong sense of urgency, initiative and drive to execute tasks — with an emphasis on working with and through people in the process — has helped create a culture of excellence at Green Valley Grocery and its portfolio of 79 convenience stores.

People & Culture Services Delivery Senior Manager bp

Sandy Deel

Director, Benefits & Wellness Casey’s General Stores Inc.

Nancy Doran

Senior National Account Director Beatbox Beverages

Julie Edwards

Senior Human Resources Director Core-Mark International

Molly Grisham

• Throughout 2022, Deel was director of human resources services and benefits for Thorntons LLC. With Thorntons’ integration into bp, she took on her new role and title on Jan. 1, 2023. It is a similar level of director responsibility in the organization, but now being part of a much larger organization with layers above Thorntons. • She is responsible for providing human resources support to the business functions for bp’s new U.S. Retail Operating Organization (ROO). This includes numerous special projects as the ROO is still coming together as a business structure and has plans for major growth. • From May 2022 to April 2023, Deel led Thorntons’ efforts in working with a global team at bp to build and implement Workday, a human resources information system for U.S. frontline retail staff, transitioning the Thorntons store team members onto Workday in March 2023.

• Doran is responsible for executing benefits, recognition and wellness strategies for Casey’s. She has oversight of a nearly $84 million budget associated with self-funded benefits plans, the company’s retirement plan, paid leave plans, and services contracted to administer the plans. • Over the past year, Doran and her team have focused on increasing education and awareness of the many benefits offered to Casey’s team members. This includes improved benefits platform design, multiple education campaigns and a newly introduced Total Rewards Promise. • She leverages team member feedback from a benefits survey to make adjustments to the benefits offerings. This insight, along with market research, has resulted in a three-year strategic roadmap of potential additions or improvements to the offerings in the coming years.

• Edwards is responsible for developing and increasing BeatBox’s business and executing the sales and marketing programs for key national chains, including Circle K, QuikTrip Corp., RaceTrac Inc., Sheetz Inc., GPM Investments LLC and Wawa Inc. • BeatBox’s growth as the No. 1 fastest growing 500-milliter wine brand and No. 2 ready-to-drink beverage in convenience is in large part thanks to Edwards’ leadership. As the national account director for Circle K, her work resulted in volume increases of 70 percent and similarly, QuikTrip saw a 31 percent volume increase from 2021 to 2022. • Over the course of her 25-year career, Edwards has been recognized with numerous leadership and sales awards. In 2023, she was honored with a peer recognition award at the BeatBox annual company summit.

• Shortly into her tenure at Core-Mark International, Grisham was tasked with the integration of all functions of Core-Mark and Eby-Brown. She partnered with each individual leader to ensure there was connectivity, optimization and synergy identified throughout. • In 2022, she took the entire organization through a talent review process, helping to identify and support rising star talent and successors for critical positions. This led to the introduction of a rising stars talent development program, aligning key talent with executive leader mentorships. • Grisham is responsible for the development and execution of diversity, inclusion and belonging initiatives. She successfully rolled out unconscious bias training to the company’s leaders, while planning and executing celebrations and educational sessions to bring further equity and support of underrepresented communities.

Director, Continuous Improvement Casey’s General Stores Inc.

Mary Handorf

Vice President & Chief Product Officer Wawa Inc.

Mary-Rose Hannum

Vice President of Human Resources Kwik Trip Inc.

Megan Harcey

Director of Operations American Natural

Stacey Jobe

• Handorf develops and supports the vision, direction and strategy for productivity and process improvements within store operations using a hybrid top-down and bottom-up approach for Casey’s 2,500-plus stores across 16 states in the Midwest. • She is responsible for assessing year-over-year productivity improvements, EBITDA growth, and manages the KPIs and reporting methods to track and report process improvements. Over the past 12 months, she has provided leadership around initiatives that unlocked $8 million in EBITDA growth. • This year, Handorf was one of only four leaders selected to address all of the company’s leaders at the annual Casey’s Commitment Conference. Her selection is a testament to her value to the organization as a whole.

• Hannum is responsible for the entirety of Wawa’s in-store offer, from fresh food and beverages to packaged beverages and snacks. She is accountable, along with the chief merchandising officer, for a $2.5 billion merchandise gross profit budget. • She took on her current role in October 2021 and drove 2022 profits to a record level, well ahead of expectations, and has energized the entire organization. • Hannum has been with Wawa for more than 20 years, continually progressing in responsibility, from supply chain to store design to key implementations, and finally to driving the retailer’s fresh food and beverage offer. According to her nominator, she is regarded as “the poster child” of the Wawa associate achieving great results by building consensus and strong positive relationships throughout the organization.

• Harcey is the primary leader for all the human resources functions for Kwik Trip and its 36,000-plus team members. The human resources department’s annual budget is $14.1 million, and the talent acquisition department budget is $7.8 million. The company’s total rewards spend is $1 billion. • Her leadership of the talent acquisition team has successfully ensured a high-quality workforce for all the company’s new stores and markets. Her team’s success has meant Kwik Trip has one of the lowest turnover rates in the convenience store industry. • Together, Harcey’s teams work tirelessly to help fulfill Kwik Trip’s purpose of creating a thriving culture where coworkers grow, advance, have fun and love their jobs.

• Jobe has been a leader in the transformation of the American Natural brand from a café concept to a modern fast-casual platform that has broader appeal and is meaningfully different and special compared to other convenience and restaurant concepts. • She led her team through the process of optimizing the American Natural Eatery menu for quality, profitability and efficiency. Through this very thorough review of every ingredient, recipe and process, Jobe kept her team motivated to uncover all the challenges and barriers to consistency, streamline processes to improve speed of service, and improve any and every aspect of quality. • Her partnerships with local vendors have created exceptional quality and differentiation at American Natural in everything from the bread for the sandwiches to the coffee that is sourced from a local craft roaster.

Vice President & General Manager of North America Dover Fueling Solutions

Kendra Keller

Senior Category Manager RaceTrac Inc.

Anna Kjerrumgaard

Regional Director Sheetz Inc.

Deborah Kociban

President & CEO NJOY

Shannon Leistra

• Formerly senior vice president and consumer experience officer at Altria Client Services LLC, Leistra was named the president and CEO of NJOY in June. She previously held various Altria operating company leadership positions, including president and CEO of U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co., and led the integration of Helix. • Her recent accomplishments at Altria include the integration of a new business unit and launch of on! nicotine pouches, and the launch of Cope Rewards, the first and only national rewards program for a moist smokeless tobacco brand. • Leistra helped create the newly formed Consumer Experience Organization in the first quarter of 2023, and is the executive sponsor of Altria’s Hispanic Employee Resource Group, Si, which established the Hispanic Caucus and Sponsorship Program for midlevel Hispanic leaders in 2022.

• Kociban manages Sheetz’s Region No. 1 and in this role, oversees the strategies, accountability and operations of 133 convenience stores in Ohio and West Virginia, which encompass 3,113 total employees. • She serves as a liaison and conduit between the store operations employees and corporate departments. She also ensures the successful execution of store-related strategies and initiatives. • Under Kociban’s leadership, Sheetz was able to successfully enter Columbus, Ohio, with its first store in 2021. Her strategic planning and alignment of the new market with the company’s goals led to game-changing results. The retailer was able to open 22 stores in Columbus since 2021, including 10 stores in 2022 alone. She is now leading the way as Sheetz expands into its next new state, Michigan.

• Kjerrumgaard oversees the center store business for RaceTrac, working with multiple companies to ensure the retailer has the right mix in the stores. She’s involved in setting up promotions, new item distribution and optimizing the category sets. • The senior category manager has been instrumental in the growth of RaceTrac as the company enters the travel center industry, a process she began more than eight years ago — four years before RaceTrac opened the doors of its first travel center. RaceTrac now has more than 40 travel centers or extended diesel offerings. • Kjerrumgaard joined the company in 2015 as the category manager for services. Two years later, she advocated for additional responsibility and absorbed the general merchandise category. She now serves as the senior category manager over snacks, general merchandise, services and travel centers.

• Keller’s sphere of influence spans every aspect of the business across Dover Fueling Solutions’ (DFS) largest region, North America. This includes accountability for annual financial targets and plans, setting product strategy, as well as executing product design, supporting customers from a sales and service perspective, and sustaining quality control within operations and product development. • Under her direction, DFS expanded its offerings by intro-ducing multimedia dispensers to the market. In January 2023, DFS launched the AX12 dispenser, which when combined with DX Promote, enables site owners to concentrate on managing their business while scheduled media generates revenue at the dispenser. • Keller leads DFS’ North American DE&I Council and is the executive sponsor for its Women’s Network. Additionally, she recently won the 2023 Executive of the Year award from the Austin Regional Manu-facturers Association in Texas.

Director – US Convenience, Strategic West The Hershey Co.

Marisa Magnotta

Division Director Murphy USA Inc.

Stacey Monteleone

Director of Brand Marketing - KOOL ITG Brands

Stephanie Nelson

Vice President, National Accounts, Convenience Constellation Brands Inc.

Jenny Odom

• Magnotta has held multiple roles during her 11 years with The Hershey Co. She currently leads a team consisting of nine customer sales executives across the central part of the United States. She’s responsible for all distributor and retailer business in her area; hiring, training and performance management for her team; and a cross section of budgets. • She has been recognized internally multiple times as a top performer for the company, and has been acknowledged by her retailer and distributor partners for her collaboration efforts and engagement with their businesses. • Magnotta participates in several business resource groups at Hershey, alongside her work in the company’s formal mentorship program. Recently, she was assigned to a board position with NACS.

• Odom manages the strategic vision and framework for the national account convenience channel as it pertains to account sales, sales execution and category management. Her sphere of influence covers seven national account chains, including 7-Eleven Inc., Circle K, QuikTrip Corp., RaceTrac Inc., ampm, Thorntons and EG Group. • As vice president of convenience for CBI Beer, Odom led the national account team to win “Supplier of the Year” for both 7-Eleven and ampm. • Odom’s leadership extends outside of her work directly for the company. She participated in Constellation’s Executive Development Program at Harvard University in 2017 and served as a leadership coach for the same program in 2019. She also often participates in the NACS Leadership Forum and State of the Industry.

• Monteleone’s responsibilities as division director include overseeing approximately $1.5 billion in annual revenue across 150 stores in Murphy USA’s Midwest region. Among other projects, she focuses on the continual improvement of store opening processes from the pro forma stage to post-opening analysis. • She helped lead the successful rollout and change management of EBT and SNAP benefits across the company’s network of stores, which led to significant increases in merchandise sales. • As president of the Murphy USA Disaster Relief Foundation (Need Fund) from 2017 to 2021, Monteleone updated the fund’s bylaws and implemented robust reporting and spend-tracking mechanisms. Her work helped to quadruple fund contributions by the end of her tenure and ensured hundreds of in-need team members received aid quickly.

• As one of the few female directors in the business, Nelson leads the U.S. strategy for menthol and P&L oversight, including budget and marketing spends. She is also responsible for leading a sizeable direct and indirect team, as well as serving as a key mentor for many working under her. • Nelson heads up all key marketing activities, including the creation of brand equity and brand ideas, for ITG’s leading brand KOOL and ensures the company has a strong long-term innovation plan. She oversaw the creation of the KOOL “Feel the Vibe” campaign. • She has been a top-rated performer within the ITG Brands marketing team, with her work on the KOOL business getting shared and approved by the Imperial Brands plc board.

Loyalty Manager Sheetz Inc.

Shianna Peace

Sales Director, Convenience East Mars Wrigley

Tracy Schmitt- Winters

Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Counsel & Secretary Pilot Co.

Kristin Seabrook

Founding & Managing Partner Business Accelerator Team

Kay Segal

• Reporting to the director of brand marketing, Peace leads the strategic direction of loyalty and rewards programs at Sheetz. Her responsibilities include budget oversight and coordination, collaboration on various corporate initiatives, overseeing the expansion of technical capabilities for the loyalty platform, and representing the brand/loyalty team in vendor meetings, on market rides and at conferences. • A U.S Air Force veteran, Peace has been with Sheetz for seven years, moving from hospitality program manager to her current position in 2020. Her leadership and forward thinking have been integral to growing Sheetz’s loyalty and digital space, according to her nominator. • Outside of the company, she is an active volunteer with a local community food bank that her family has organized and donated to for many years.

• Schmitt-Winters started in the convenience channel in 2012 and is currently the only female director on a team of four. She is responsible for leading customer sales activity to ensure long-term partnerships that promote growth and for the recruitment, hiring, development and retention of talent on her team. • She oversees seven associates, 40 accounts and $270 million in annual volume, and is an active member in several of the company’s associate resource groups. • In 2011, Schmitt-Winters was inducted into the Mars Tie & Scarf Club, a recognition awarded to only the top 1 percent of sales associates with at least 10 years of experience. She also received the very first C-Store Climber award, which recognizes those who demonstrate a “never give up” attitude and behavior.

• As part of the executive leadership team, Seabrook serves as the chief legal advisor to the board of managers, CEO and executive management team, providing counsel on all legal matters impacting the company. • Since joining Pilot, she has built the legal department from three team members to 47, and added leadership of compliance functions, along with privacy oversight. To date, her work has included the investigation and resolution of a 2013 federal investigation and related class actions, as well as advisement to the board of managers on mitigating risks. • A committed member of Pilot’s mentorship program, Seabrook feels that successful mentoring includes listening and having honest conversations while not being afraid to share her own mistakes and how she’s learned from them.

• Dedicated to the Business Accelerator Team’s philosophy of existing to help others succeed, Segal oversees a seven-member team with a combined 400 years of experience. Her responsibilities include development strategy for the company, project assessment and internal management, as well as client acquisition, growth and retention. • Beyond her consultant work, Segal is also committed to helping the wider industry. She has assisted with NACS Show education since 2019, in addition to serving on NACS’ Exhibitor Advisory Committee. She has additionally acted as a moderator and organizer for SIGMA’s Retail Marketing & Foodservice Share Groups. • An accomplished connector and consultant for the c-store industry, Segal believes leaders must keep an open mind, continually add to their sphere of knowledge and build upon past experiences and insights.

Director of Information Systems Administration McLane Co. Inc.

Milinda Sill

Director, National Accounts Cheyenne International

Gina Simmons

Vice President of Design GSP Retail

Margaret Sotrop

Head of Small Format, Drug & Dollar Shopper Marketing Anheuser-Busch

Megan Sprenger

• A veteran of the shopper marketing space and two-time Effie Award winner, Sprenger leads a team of shopper marketing managers and supervises a budget of $20 million for her respective customers. She oversees program strategy and campaign development across Tier 1 small-format national accounts, including 7-Eleven Inc. and Circle K. • After taking over her current position, Sprenger moved the channel away from tactical programs to a clear strategy aligned with the company’s priorities for omnichannel programming, allowing Anheuser-Busch to gain stronger results across its top brands and deepen relationships with key customers. • Sprenger has additionally taken on a leadership role with the Path to Purchase Institute, where she sits on the advisory panel and BevAlc Committee.

• Reporting directly to the CEO, Sotrop oversees a creative department of nearly 40 people who work in branding, retail design, industrial design, graphic design and project management. Projects include clients’ retail environments designs, branding, store renovations, graphics production for signage, photography and video production for customer-facing marketing. • Sotrop serves as the intellectual and creative force behind GSP’s retail environments line of business, helping clients understand what their customer-facing needs are and assisting them in finding their brand voice. • Having spent 18 years working at Macy’s, Sotrop brings a sophisticated, upscale perspective to the convenience channel, coordinating with c-store executives to create spaces that both attract customers and encourage them to come back and shop again.

• Simmons oversees national accounts across the country for large-sized retail chains and multihouse distributors. She is responsible for all aspects of selling, distribution, branding, merchandising and execution in national chains. • She not only helped push Cheyenne to become the No. 1 filtered cigar with large chain distribution gains, but also helped protect the company’s position by securing exclusivity in large national chains and adding new product SKUs. Her work has helped Cheyenne earn a slot as Convenience Store News’ Category Captain in OTP/Cigars four times. • Simmons previously won a Top Women in Convenience award for senior leadership in 2020 and was recognized by Cheyenne as an International Marketing Star of the Month.

• Sill joined McLane in April 2000 as an executive administrator for information systems and has subsequently taken on various roles within the company. In her current position as head of IT administration, she oversees critical functions such as the project management office, IT audit and compliance management, data retention oversight and loss prevention, disaster recovery and business continuity. • Under her guidance, McLane created an information systems PMO office, implemented an ITAM solution for IT asset management, and put in place a SaaS procure- to-pay solution. • Sill is currently quarterbacking McLane’s IT transformation for 2023, a task that requires a tremendous amount of subject matter knowledge, relationship-building with experts and the ability to communicate effectively with C-level executives.

Senior Section Sales Director Altria Group Distribution Co.

Jennifer Treasone

Vice President, Commercial Planning PepsiCo Inc.

Bria Troy

Vice President, Purchasing Core-Mark International

Holly Veale

• Leading a team of approximately 150 field sales employees, Treasone is responsible for selling and executing retail store programs, and working with retail partners to support their business strategies. • In her prior role as a senior director of accounts, she took an agile approach to collaboration across Altria’s account teams to accelerate learnings, simplify processes and better position teams to help their customers. She also cocreated the AGDC Inclusion, Diversity and Equity (IDE) Council to identify opportunities to accelerate the company’s progress toward its IDE goals and improve employee experiences. • In her current position, Treasone has already stood up a project to reimagine Altria’s quality call process and planning approach, with the goal of increasing support to both customers and Altria’s operating companies.

• Now in her eighth year with Premier Manufacturing, Stinchfield currently leads all sales and marketing activities in Missouri, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Oklahoma. Her portfolio of products includes factory made cigarettes, premium cigars, pipe tobacco and cigarette tubes. • Stinchfield’s leadership can be seen in two recent partnerships. She first implemented a plan for a potential partner that helped them hit their quarterly target goals and delivered a control label cigarette brand. She also opened up new product offerings in a targeted state by partnering with another direct buyer that covered the independent retailer market. • She strives to lead her peers and coworkers by example, believing a leader must be able to inspire others around them, follow their values, and be honest with themselves and others.

• Second in seniority on a team of 61 associates, Taylor serves as the broker of record for the Mars Wrigley convenience channel team and is responsible for managing a multimillion-dollar annual trade budget for more than 800 customers. • She brings a wealth of channel, category, customer and client expertise to her role as director of sales. As the go-to person for all things R2 Solutions/Advantage and Mars Wrigley related, her leadership has been instrumental in ensuring the R2 Solutions c-store HQ team have all the resources they need to succeed. • Taylor regularly receives recognition and praise from her colleagues and has been active in various industry associations, including NACS and NextUp (formerly, the Network of Executive Women).

• Thomae works directly with the chief operations officer and operations team to provide HR leadership across all aspects of Casey’s field operations, including stores, supply chain, fuel, service and maintenance, real estate, asset protection and operations excellence. • A respected and sought-after business partner, she provides support for everything from leadership development initiatives to organizational design to driving new standards of operating through initiatives like DEI and strategic planning. • This fiscal year, Thomae led an initiative to improve team member retention, seeing improvements in all areas of operations from store team members to grocery transportation drivers, with a specific focus on store managers resulting in a 32 percent reduction in turnover. These rates have been called out and acknowledged in quarterly investor calls.

• Troy leads a team of 35 professional employees and oversees all commercial planning for PepsiCo’s $26 billion North American beverage business spanning all brands and all go-to-market systems across all channels of business. • She is accountable for $1.3 billion in innovation revenue, manages a direct budget of $3 million, and oversees all commercial activity in the marketplace across four divisions, customer teams and brand teams. Troy also leads the period priority calendar, which provides the sales teams with monthly focus areas, clear deliverables, and metrics to measure against. • Overall, Troy rates as one of the top leaders in the company, with strong organizational health scores at 89 percent and top engagement scores at 93 percent across her team.

• Veale leads all purchasing activity for the Core-Mark convenience segment of Performance Food Group, overseeing $26 billion in company sales. Her team of 130 employees is responsible for all purchasing activity of resale products, managing fill rates, generating buying income and managing inventory. • Over the past year, she led the integration of the Core-Mark and Eby-Brown organizations into a single integrated purchasing department. She also navigated her team through the lingering challenges of supply chain interruptions. • As someone who prioritizes servant leadership and is viewed by her peers as a highly respected advocate for the health of the convenience channel, Veale has been appointed to several positions in industry governance, including spots on the boards of NATO and the Convenience Distribution Association.

RISING STARS

Senior Associate, General Counsel Pilot Co.

Amy Ahmad

• Ahmad oversees legal operations that include serving midstream businesses, DEF, transportation, supply agreements, licensing, tax, government contracts and more. Her team has a direct impact on every Pilot location. • As renewable fuels and green energy are increasingly emphasized, she works with Pilot’s retail locations on numerous issues related to their distribution and labeling, and ensuring state and federal compliance. She was also instrumental in writing and securing a federal grant for stations that require upgrades to become compatible with E15. • According to her nominator, Ahmad has the ability to take what she already knows, dig deep into new subjects and then act successfully on completely new challenges; she is expected to make a positive impact on Pilot and the industry as a whole for years to come.

Loyalty Marketing Coordinator Yesway

Evelyn Alba

Digital Portfolio Manager Sheetz Inc.

Rachel Alden

Recruitment Manager Rutter’s

Lydia Becker

• Alba is responsible for the execution of all promotional pricing, in-app offers and customer service troubleshooting for the Yesway and Allsup’s Rewards program while managing all program offers, campaigns and communications. • She is known for tackling new projects with a sense of urgency and serving as a vital part of Yesway’s marketing organization, earning her internal recognition for her positive impact on the company’s retail operations. • Based on her guest-first dedication to customer service, campaign management and development of personalized member messaging, Alba was a major contributor to the rewards program’s 20 percent year-over-year growth in participation rates last year.

• Alden’s responsibilities include the strategic execution and management of Sheetz’s portfolio of consumer digital products. She also partners with the retailer’s operations team to improve systems and processes that make customer-facing platforms more efficient for store-level employees. • Some of her recent accomplishments include introducing an updated online ordering system, rolling out a new Pump & Pay feature in Sheetz’s mobile app, launching an industry-first integration to feed tobacco offers into Sheetz’s mobile loyalty program with real-time ID verification, and raising topline digital profitability by 30 percent. • Her nominator describes Alden as a model for leadership within the organization whose contributions are a major factor in why Sheetz continues to be considered an innovator within the convenience industry.

• Becker oversees Rutter’s recruiting team and management of in-store career advancement programs. She recruits for roles ranging from store management to technicians to entry-level corporate positions, and communicates daily with store management teams, operations and hiring managers to provide an effective feedback loop on all staffing. • Starting out as a part-time Rutter’s team member while in college, Becker was quickly promoted upon stepping into a full-time recruiter role. She is known as an excellent mentor who is always looking to expand her knowledge and skills. • In December 2022, she received Rutter’s Corporate Making a Difference Award. She is viewed as a valued team member who continues to grow and develop her career.

Talent Acquisition Manager OnCue

KeShana Braxton

Manager of Tobacco Wawa Inc.

Andrea Brooke

Company-Owned, Company-Operated Business Consultant Chevron USA Inc.

Alma Cardenas

Product Manager Casey’s General Stores Inc.

Cathlin Carlson

• Carlson partners with Casey’s guest loyalty, digital marketing, advertising and technology teams to aid the realization of the company’s strategy and goals. She leads discovery efforts around ideation, evaluation and prioritization of capabilities to ensure Casey’s is building the right solution based on market trends, competitor analysis, data-driven insights and organizational strategy. • In collaboration with Casey’s technology teams, Carlson drives development using agile and scrum methodologies to deliver incremental value while allowing the company to learn and evolve through experimentation and guest insights. • She consistently demonstrates informal leadership and mentor-ship while also taking on a formal leadership role in Casey’s summer internship program. Carlson also has an active voice in shaping the product roadmap for Casey’s marketing technology teams, and continually demonstrates her ability to deliver impactful results.

• Cardenas is responsible for the operations of a territory of 15 company-owned, company-operated stores and is a subject matter expert for various Chevron support groups and global retail organizations. She leads and mentors based on the belief that an empowered team will perform at a high level. • Her territory is often selected for running new company initiatives and programs, such as ChevronTexaco Loyalty, Chevron Car Wash subscription service and a neurodiverse hiring program for employees with disabilities. Insights from these pilots are used companywide to improve the customer experience. • Cardenas has led multiple projects that drive efficiency and increase profitability. Her continuous improvement efforts have been instrumental in helping the company achieve its core objectives and implement key learnings.

• Brooke defines and executes Wawa’s digital and traditional marketing plans for total tobacco. She oversees and leads partnerships with vendors and manufacturers to optimize programming and achieve the retailer’s strategic goals. • Her influence on tobacco strategy and implementation extends across six states and Washington, D.C., as well as eight expansion states. She also oversees the team responsible for execution of pricing, program elections and promotional implementation at store level. • In her role, Brooke has launched multiple creative initiatives that directly resulted in sales volume growth and increased loyalty redemption rates within the last year. She is viewed as a strong leader within Wawa and the overall industry’s tobacco space.

• Braxton established and manages OnCue’s recruitment and hiring practices as a growing operation. She is involved in decisions spanning human resources, talent acquisition, workplace culture and employee satisfaction, retention and mediation. • Her influence reaches every aspect of OnCue and she consistently goes above and beyond to ensure that the company’s mission is fulfilled and exemplified by each employee she hires. She is known for her contagious kindness and advocacy for both employees and OnCue as a company. • As her team has grown, Braxton has helped many young professionals develop their careers and been instrumental in raising employee engagement. She is a direct factor in OnCue being named one of the top workplaces in Oklahoma six times and in the United States three times, according to her nominator.

Fuel Category Manager Casey’s General Stores Inc.

Sarah Clark

Program Manager, GetGo Technology Giant Eagle Inc./GetGo

Maureen Commens

Senior Manager of Operations Support Pilot Co.

Krista Crockett

Manager, Talent Acquisition & Diversity Programs Swisher

Alexandria Deal

• As the sole fuel category manager for Casey’s 16-state footprint, Clark is leading the effort to establish and execute a companywide electric vehicle (EV) strategy through strong cross-functional partnerships. Her responsibilities include business case development, EV supply equipment vendor management, site implementation and more. • Known as a great team player, Clark partners internally and externally to develop fuel promotion strategies, and leads the Casey’s team in outdoor EMV upgrades. She also assists with the onboarding and support of new team members to help ensure their success. • Clark has earned two promotions in less than four years at Casey’s, and is highly regarded for her excellent knowledge and passion for the fuel industry.

• Commens manages the full portfolio of investments for GetGo’s fuel and convenience banner. She partners across senior technology and business leadership to ensure smooth delivery of the company’s transformation efforts. • In the last year, Commens led the successful delivery and rollout of a new enterprise resource planning system to 275 locations. This complex initiative included more than 80 system integrations, custom development of a new promotional engine and largescale cross-team coordination. • She mentors and develops talent, ensuring her reports add value and successfully deliver overall portfolio goals. Colleagues regularly seek her guidance and feedback, and she consistently exceeds expectations in her program delivery duties.

• Crockett leads a team that focuses on industrial engineering, analytics and IT implementation while working closely with the executive leadership team and stakeholders to address operational challenges and implement strategic initiatives. • She ensures that technology investments align with Pilot’s goals and contribute to a more efficient, agile and competitive business. Crockett’s hand in strategic planning, process improvement, technology implementation and financial management makes her an invaluable asset, her nominator said. • Her sphere of influence is extensive and multifaceted, and Crockett plays an important role in driving improvements across the company, recognizing that even minor improvements can significantly affect people’s lives.

• Edwards manages the total Coca-Cola portfolio for four robust convenience retail chains: QuikTrip, Enmarket, Parker’s and Refuel. In this role, she is responsible for delivering more than $43 million in revenue and 1.7 million cases annually. • Last year, Edwards drove record performance, setting new records in all metrics by 20 percent vs. the prior year, and by more than 10 percent vs. her high budget numbers. She was also the top performer on the Coca-Cola Consolidated Small Store Team. • According to her nominator, Edwards is considered an internal top performer whose skills and expertise lead her to continually surpass her customers’ expectations while exceeding her goals and objectives. She currently serves on the company’s Stewardship Committee and is a recent chair of its Future of Operations Committee.

Customer Development Director Coca-Cola Consolidated

JoBeth Edwards

Manager, Shopper Marketing Glanbia Performance Nutrition

Samantha Gillespie

Demand Planning Manager RaceTrac Inc.

Hannah Goncalves

National Account Manager McLane Co. Inc.

Maggie Hart

• Gillespie oversees all GPN/Optimum Nutrition shopper marketing initiatives for the national convenience channel, the company’s largest immediate-consumption channel. This includes collaborating with both retailers and the GPN sales and brand teams to bring ideas to market, execute them flawlessly and conduct post-initiative analysis. • Her nominator noted that Gillespie has been instrumental in creating innovative shopper marketing programs that resulted in significant distribution growth of Optimum Nutrition AMIN.O. Energy, and developing programs that drive purchase rate and new users in key chains. • She has received multiple internal recognition and value awards from GPN, including the Growing Our Share In-Market Award for her outstanding shopper marketing work for AMIN.O. Energy and Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard Whey Protein. She is also an active member of the Glanbia Network of Women.

• Goncalves oversees the controlling, planning and evaluation of all ordering and inventory management activities for RaceTrac and works to ensure her team develops a strong acumen in support of best-in-class inventory control measures and internal technology systems. • Two of her recent achievements are leading the testing and launches of tobacco ordering and fresh food ordering initiatives, which reduced capital holding, increased labor efficiencies and significantly cut down on waste across the RaceTrac network. • Goncalves is very results-driven and continues to push boundaries rather than be satisfied with the status quo, her nominator said. She is a recipient of RaceTrac’s HEART Award for exemplifying its core values of honesty, efficiency, positive attitude, respect and teamwork, and is known for her mindset of continual improvement.

• Hart is a key figure responsible for overseeing all aspects of product distribution for 7-Eleven brands at McLane. Her work with critical functions such as project planning, inventory management, process improvement and financial management has contributed to impressive sales growth for both companies. • Her achievements include improvements to the new item launch process, enhanced oversight and guidance on inventory management, and the development of reporting tools that provide essential data and analytics for both McLane’s teams and its customers. • Hart helped spearhead a mentor-ing program at McLane and serves as liaison to Texas Women’s University, where she recruits high-potential candidates. She is a two-time World Class Sales trophy winner and has won Teammate of the Month an impressive eight times.

Regional Manager Swisher

Jami Johnson

Product Sales Manager General Mills Convenience

Tove Korth

Director of Sales, Convenience Hostess Brands Inc.

Christina Kozuh

Senior Category Manager Ferrara Candy Co.

Lisa Krone

• Johnson manages sales and profitability of multiple brands in existing accounts while expanding territory into new accounts, among other duties. She also has a hand in sales planning and execution, new product introductions, inventory planning and control, and go-to-market execution. • In recent years, she increased her territory share to nearly 42 percent, and led Swisher in 19 out of 25 top product sales in independent retail accounts as well as 21 out of 25 top products in chain retail accounts. She was recently promoted to regional manager to help drive business throughout New England. • According to her nominator, Johnson has outstanding dedication and is known for her deep understanding of customers’ individual needs and unique challenges. She was selected for Swisher’s 2022 Vision Sales Leadership Program and is an active member of the company’s Women Who SHINE employee resource group.

• Korth partners with General Mills’ brand teams to drive business in the convenience channel and accelerate innovation while working with a large cross-functional team to keep things relevant and exciting for the channel. • Some of her recent accomplishments include leading the launches of multiple innovative, high-performing salty snacks, and using her convenience channel expertise to influence the approach of a critical strategic revenue management project and improve its overall impact. • Korth is known for having a meaningful impact on her projects, as well as her ability to quickly identify and act on opportunities while also solving problems and challenges for her teams. She has received multiple internal awards, such as the General Mills Snacks 2022 Year-End Award for Convenience Business Integration.

• Kozuh was nominated for her accomplishments as key account manager at BIC USA Inc., a role she held for more than two years. She recently left BIC and joined Hostess Brands as director of sales for convenience. • While at BIC, she was the No. 1 convenience key account manager for two consecutive years. During this time, she achieved double-digit growth as part of the convenience team and grew her territory by 52 percent from 2021 to 2022. She was also named the top sales manager across the entire BIC organization. • According to her nominator, Kozuh is known for her strong engagement skills and ability to collaborate with customers, which leads to consistent success and a strong reputation as a high achiever.

• As part of Ferrara’s c-store category leadership team, Krone works with dedicated broker managers to support the company’s most strategic customers. She regularly drives strategic foresight and insight activation for c-store customers by identifying both business opportunities and solutions. • According to her nominator, Krone is known for delivering proactive insights to boost category growth and unlock white space opportunities. This includes leading power hours that focus on shopper analysis, and partnering with retailers to ensure that assortment and merchandising are maximized based on frontend and shopper decision tree research. • Within Ferrara, Krone is viewed as a go-to resource and strong collaborator. She has received multiple nominations for Ferrara Feats internal recognition based on her retailer partnerships and activating insights. She also helps head the Women Who Lead business resource group.

Sales Director, PBNA North PepsiCo Inc.

Danielle LaGuardia

Sales Communications Manager JUUL Labs Inc.

Alexandra Lee

Project Management Coordinator Associated Grocers of New England

Kendra LeGendre

eCommerce Sales Manager PepsiCo Inc.

Devan Lombardi

• LaGuardia serves as the face of Pepsi Beverages and leads its strategic, long-term planning. She guides the business planning and day-to-day executional excellence across all convenience outlets. She is also responsible for monitoring key business metrics, continuous category analysis and launching new products, among other duties. • Last year, LaGuardia’s leadership helped her portfolio grow 5 percent, overlapping a year in which she achieved double-digit growth by taking an approach that is solution-driven, collaborative and always balances the goals of Pepsi and its customers. • LaGuardia constantly challenges the status quo and is a champion talent developer who is enthusiastic about building capability and maintaining a positive work environment for all, according to her nominator.

• Over the past year, LeGendre’s role has expanded beyond the convenience channel to encompass the training and development of the entire sales team. The work she’s done to streamline, standardize and essentially perfect the customer onboarding process for c-stores is now regarded as the gold standard to be applied to all of the organization’s customers, according to her nominator. • Also among her accomplishments in the past year, LeGendre helped create a cross-functional comm-ittee, giving associates at all levels of the organization the ability to be more involved in AGNE’s biannual food shows. The rising star helped revamp quarterly sales team meetings to encompass the entire sales team as well. • LeGendre works with leader- ship to coordinate training and development opportunities for her peers based on needs assessments and firsthand observations.

• Lombardi is responsible for driving sales growth for the total PepsiCo portfolio, including Foods & Beverages for 7-Eleven Inc.’s e-commerce business. She manages assortment, creates and executes efficient promotions and marketing campaigns, and influences operational excellence by leveraging data and technology. Through industry-defining strategies, eCommerce contributed more than 10 percent to the total PepsiCo growth on the 7-Eleven delivery platform for fiscal year 2022. • As an advocate for driving women’s empowerment within the organization, Lombardi leads the PepsiCo Women in eCommerce Development pillar, which focuses on driving mentorship and training for women in this space. She also heads the Organizational Health Task Force focused on recognition. • Lombardi is a recipient of the PepsiCo Way Award for developing the first eCommerce internship program, which has scaled to 30-plus interns hired into full-time employees over the past six years.

7-Eleven National Team Lead Boston Beer Co.

Lauren MacKelcan

Human Resources Manager Cliff’s Local Market

Aida Mekic

Market Manager Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc./Circle K

Markashia Phillips

Supply Manager East Pilot Co.

Lane Reed

• MacKelcan leads a team of national account managers that support and call on 7-Eleven nationally. Her responsibilities include vertical alignment with the 7-Eleven category team, building and managing annual plans and resources, and collaborating with trade marketing and e-commerce to develop all support programming, among other duties. • Just two years into her role, MacKelcan’s enthusiasm and expertise has motivated Boston Beer Co.’s entire sales force and distributor partners to call on and support the c-store class of trade more frequently and in a bigger way, her nominator noted. • A recipient of the Leaders Among Leaders Award, she collaborates regularly with the company’s brand teams to create dynamic programs that align with and support c-store retailer partners’ needs and business objectives.

• Mekic processes two payrolls for Cliff’s Local Market and Clifford Fuel Co. She is responsible for all human resources related tasks across 20 c-stores, five Subway restaurants, a fuel transportation team and an additional full-serve fuel site. Mekic is in regular supportive contact with the company’s management teams in stores, in the field and in the support center. • She is credited with taking the company into the 21st century by modernizing her department. By building out the HRIS with additional modules, she further streamlined the process and enhanced accessibility for team members. By transforming HR, she created savings for the company in many places along the way. • Mekic is involved with the New York Association of Convenience Stores and is a member of the local Mohawk Valley, N.Y., Society for HR Management.

• Phillips started her c-store industry career as a cashier at a local Cracker Barrel in Youngsville, La. Not long after ACT acquired the Cracker Barrel chain in 2017, she took on a market manager role, overseeing the largest territory within the Gulf Coast Business Unit. She was recently recognized for having the highest engagement scores in the U.S. • Her drive for operational excellence earned Phillips a spot in the first cohort of CALIBR, ACT’s strategic talent development program devoted to preparing Black midlevel and senior-level talent for leadership roles. Soon after completing this program, she was selected for Circle K’s internal Emerging Leaders program, which focuses on strategic thinking, building successful teams and understanding the core business. • Phillips was honored as Market Manager of the Year in 2020 and 2021. She also plays a role in the company’s D&I journey as an active Race and Ethnicity BRG member.

• Reed’s journey at Pilot Co. began in 2012 following her graduation from the University of Tennessee, where she received a degree in supply chain management and a collateral in marketing. Over the course of her career at Pilot, she was promoted multiple times before stepping into her current role in May 2018. • Her primary responsibilities encompass an extensive array of tasks that call for a distinctive combination of strategic thinking, adaptability and robust interpersonal skills. Reed is entrusted with developing, managing and executing strategies for an impressive 2.42-billion-gallon-a-year fuel portfolio, which spans seven states. • “[Reed’s] leadership style and focus on continuous improvement inspire others to perform at their best and contribute to a positive and dynamic work environment. This, in turn, drives the overall performance and growth of Pilot Co.,” said Catherine White, the company’s supervisor of communications.

Fresh Food Excellence Coach bp

Anna Rudman

Director of Category Leadership Ferrara Candy Co.

Sandi Santa Ana

Manager of Learning & Development QuickChek Corp.

Mandy Steindl-Kwiecien

Director of Compliance Operations RaceTrac Inc.

Kim Strother

• Rudman stepped into the newly created role of fresh food excellence coach in 2022. In this capacity, she supports store teams in the rollout of new food and beverage programs, and serves as an operational lens for how the company develops new products and programs. She is consistently called upon to validate new ideas in the test kitchen. • Prior to taking on this role, Rudman held several positions within the Thorntons brand. Over the course of her 23-year tenure, she’s been instrumental to many initiatives. She was selected to be general manager of the company’s first travel center in the Chicago market, and was a key partner in developing a standardized store operating system game plan for the new travel center store format. • Rudman is one of the founding members of an internal Safety Council that is tasked with identifying systemic challenges in-store that can lead to personal injury to a guest or team member.

• Santa Ana supports Ferrara’s largest sales pillar focused on convenience, specialty and foodservice teams across the U.S. She is accountable for leading her team of six to be a trusted partner who grows the sugar confection category through improved assortment, merchandising and actionable insights. In 2021, she was selected for the National Confectioners Association’s highly competitive Future Leaders Program. • Santa Ana is recognized as a results-oriented leader within Ferrara. Among her many achievements, she was recently nominated for a Ferrara Feat award for activating shopper insights with a key convenience distributor in which she helped maximize merchandising to drive productivity and buyer conversion across independent c-stores. • She is also a leader in Ferrara’s diversity, equity and inclusion space. She is active in the company’s D&I Council and Social Impact Committee, and is co-chair of ¡UNIDOS!, Ferrara’s Latine BRG.

• Steindl-Kwiecien maintains compliance training, functional training, QuickChek University curriculum and performance management processes for the chain of 161 c-stores and 4,900 team members. In line with Murphy USA’s acquisition of QuickChek, she has been instrumental in driving successful integration efforts. Last year, Steindl-Kwiecien effectively rolled out the Core Competency Model, which will continue to shape organizational culture and competency for years to come. • She ran point on QuickChek’s first National Leadership Conference (NLC) in 2022. The two-day enterprise leadership development event is for store leaders, district leaders and support center leaders. This year, 208 QuickChek leaders participated in the second- annual NLC. • Recognized for her best-in-class internal customer service and collaborative approach to driving results, Steindl-Kwiecien last year received the highly coveted QuickChek Support Center Team Member of the Year award.

• Strother leads a team that supports the operations of RaceTrac’s compliance and safety functions. She also oversees the business licensing functions for all RaceTrac stores, supporting the company’s growth into new markets and new product offers. • In her nearly 14 years at RaceTrac, she has earned a reputation for embracing the unknown. Strother has been tapped to lead numerous inaugural initiatives, including developing RaceTrac’s first curbside pickup program during the COVID-19 pandemic, rolling out the first made-to-order food program, and coordinating the opening of three new store prototypes. Even outside of her role, many look to Strother for advice and mentorship because of her tenure and broad institutional experience. • She is active in two of the company’s business resource groups: LEAD, RaceTrac’s women’s business group, and EMBRACE, RaceTrac’s people of color group. She is also a member of the Women’s Foodservice Forum.

Category Manager, OTP Casey’s General Stores Inc.

Ashley White

Sales Director, PBNA PepsiCo Inc.

Kristen Wilk

Senior Key Account Manager Reynolds American Inc.

Machaela Wilson

• White leads all decisions concerning the other tobacco products (OTP) category for Casey’s roughly 2,500 c-stores across 16 states. The business she leads generates approximately $300 million in sales across nearly 500 SKUs. She influences pricing, assortment, programs, merchandising and marketing strategies to advance innovation and a smoke-free future for Casey’s guests interested in OTP products. • She introduced digital tests on behalf of the moist smokeless tobacco and tobacco-derived nicotine categories, which resulted in increased loyalty to the convenience retailer via Casey’s Rewards and a 20 percent increase in the number of tobacco guests that the retailer can communicate with responsibly (both age and identity verified). • White has been nominated and won the Casey’s Ultimate Performer Award twice within her short four-year tenure with the company. Additionally, she is an active participant in Casey’s iWill employee resource group.

• Wilk maintains a six-state geography for the convenience and gas (C&G) channel, which comprises 72 chains and 7,200 outlets that represent $317 million in net revenue. She manages a team of 10 direct reports, each with responsibility for multiple key account chains. Wilk also has strategic responsibility for C&G for four PBNA markets and seven independent bottlers. Her three-year net revenue CAGR is +32 percent. • People leadership is a towering strength that surpasses Wilk’s demonstrated capabilities in retailer development, her nominator said. Wilk’s employees scored her in the fourth quartile of every category of PepsiCo’s “Great 5” leadership survey. In 2022, she was recognized three times for her people leadership with Raising the Bar on Talent and Development awards. • Wilk has been the chair/lead for the EQUAL ERG, which represents and celebrates the LGBTQ+ community. She effectively built the group from scratch and implemented a full calendar of activities that achieved Pride Month participation in 95 percent of the company’s Central Division locations last year.

• Wilson heads a team of lead account managers in achieving multilevel collaboration with key strategic region customers in brand building, business development and commercial execution elements for RAI’s traditional and next-generation product portfolios. Her scope consists of 31 states, controlling annual revenues of more than $500 million in wholesale and roughly $3 million in retail. • Among her accolades, she was honored with the RAI Leadership Award for the role she played in a new companywide technology launch, as well as the Inspirational Leader Award in the 2020 Mentorship Program. She is a member of RAI’s Women’s ERG and consistently ranks in the top 10 percent of the company among her peer group. • RAI Area Vice President Jackie Tressito calls Wilson a role model, noting that she inspires others through her actions, and drives and positively impacts revenue and profit goals for both her customers and RAI.

Mentors

Store Manager Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc./ Circle K

Jennifer Dickey

Regional Manager Parker’s

Tanja Gassenmaier

Vice President & Country Leader, Global Solution Center 7-Eleven Inc.

Jennifer Goschke

Senior Account Manager Altria Group Distribution Co.

Kelly Haseotes

• Dickey will celebrate 12 years with Circle K this year, after spending 14 years as a restaurant manager at McDonald’s Corp. Among her most outstanding achievements while at Circle K has been her ability to significantly drop the turnover rate. The Executive Leadership Team recently recognized Dickey for her efforts by honoring her with the very first “Make it Easy” Star Recognition. • According to her nominator, Dickey personifies ACT/Circle K’s “One Team” core value by helping develop people internally. She has become the go-to store manager for new incoming managers and assistants preparing for the store manager in training position. • Dickey oversees 13 team members. In addition to her duties as store manager, she performs the same tasks she expects of her team, such as stocking shelves, ringing customers, cleaning and making her customers’ lives a little easier every day.

• Gassenmaier is responsible for the operational performance and talent cultivation of five districts and 40 locations throughout South Carolina and Georgia, which equates to more than 50 percent of Parker’s total corporate footprint. She will be adding seven more stores to her already-large region and expanding her sphere of influence within the next year. • Her mentorship transcends the departments to which she is assigned. Gassenmaier dedicates time each week to working alongside recruiters, coaching on specific interview tactics and advising them on the essential elements to pay close attention to when doing check-ins with team members. • Since joining Parker’s in 1999, Gassenmaier has earned a number of internal awards at the company. Additionally, in 2014, she was recognized as a Rising Star in the Top Women in Convenience program.

• In October 2021, Goschke was tapped to lead the 7-Eleven Global Solution Center (GSC) in Bengaluru, India. The GSC team partners with the U.S. Store Support Centers in Irving, Texas, and Enon, Ohio, to support business operations at 7-Eleven stores worldwide, including 83,000 stores in 19 countries. The GSC is currently home to more than 450 individuals across IT, information security, finance, accounting and more. • Goschke created a structured mentoring program with the launch of an enterprise-wide mentoring application, bringing more formal guidance to mentorship within the organ-ization. Since her assignment to India, she has continued to mentor young leaders across the enterprise and recently hosted a “Leadership Offsite” for the GSC team. • She joined 7-Eleven in September 2018 as vice president of internal audit.

Haseotes leads the Casey’s General Stores Inc. account team for AGDC. In this position, she spearheads AGDC’s joint business planning efforts and digital strategy with Casey’s to ensure that the guest experience is exceeded as it relates to Altria’s operating company brands in each Casey’s store. • Passionate about elevating female voices, she served as chair of Altria’s Women in Sales ERG. During this time, Haseotes and a team of women created a podcast series called “Her Sense of Belonging,” which centered on stories focused on creating a culture of empathy and understanding. Now serving as an advisor to the Women in Sales ERG, she is part of a mentorship cohort through Next Up Cincinnati. • Haseotes is also committed to continuing her education in the field of organizational empowerment and is currently enrolled in a doctoral program at Vanderbilt University focused on organizational leadership.

Key Account Manager Swedish Match NA

Lauren O’Malley

Vice President of National Accounts GSP Retail

Natalie Sabin

Director of Human Resources Core-Mark International

Susan Smith

• Smith is responsible for the East Region and supports the corporate operations teams. She directly oversees a team of 14 and has indirect oversight of more than 1,700 associates. She started with Core-Mark in 2016. • The HR executive is recognized for the impact her dedication and leadership have on the professional development of those around her. Most recently, two of three nominations for the HR team to the WFF Conference were awarded to her mentees. One of the most impressive aspects of Smith’s mentorship, according to her nominator, is her ability to foster a sense of community among her mentees. She facilitates a book club and informal networking meetings to share experiences and for her mentees to learn from one another. • In 2020, Core-Mark honored Smith as the HR Manager of the Year for outstanding performance and her influence on the business.

• Sabin manages 12 associates and oversees account management for several c-store retailers, as well as high-profile accounts among GSP’s specialty retailers. She is on the front lines of customer service and her depth of expertise is essential when speaking about new business on all three lines of GSP’s business, which includes retail environments, retail marketing and retail execution. • She is known as a mentor’s mentor. Whenever someone on the customer service side of the company has a question about mentorship, Sabin is the subject matter expert. In addition to mentoring proteges, other managers consult with Sabin to improve their mentorship abilities. At GSP’s annual meeting this year, she received three GDA Awards that recognized growth, diversity and authority. • In addition to mentorship, Sabin is GSP’s expert on sustainability and spearheads the company’s Sustainable Green Printer certification at its Madison, Wis., production facility.

• In her role, O’Malley leads a team of account sales managers and has direct responsibility for significant national customers. Among her responsibilities are budget management, leadership training and development, customer presentations, organizational development, and delivering sales and profit objectives. • O’Malley is active in Swedish Match’s Professional Women Rising resource group, where she mentors other women within the organization and helps develop their career paths. • Since joining Swedish Match in 2012, she has been a valued and accomplished member of the sales organization. Her success and achievements have resulted in her winning regional leadership awards and the national President’s Circle recognition, as well as a career path with notable success.

In her role as senior vice president and chief human resources officer at 7-Eleven Inc., Treasa Bowers is responsible for all HR-related activities — no small feat in an organization that takes the top spot on the Convenience Store News Top 100 report year after year. 7-Eleven’s network spans more than 13,000 stores across much of the United States with a combination of corporate store operations and franchise locations. Activities under Bowers’ leadership include steering the company’s talent strategy, talent acquisition, talent management, training and development, total rewards and employee relations for the Irving, Texas-based retailer. Key to implementing her department’s initiatives, Bowers works closely with business leaders from across the organization, including CEO Joe DePinto, to understand their ever-changing talent needs and support them in their efforts to grow and develop their employees. "Like many executives in the c-store space, Treasa has led during one of the most volatile periods of our industry’s history, beginning with the COVID-19 pandemic,” her nominator said. “Over these last few years, she has stood as a voice of calm and stability, focusing on her mission and leading us to tremendous success." In the midst of COVID-19 challenges, Bowers supported integration efforts following 7-Eleven’s $21 billion acquisition of the Speedway convenience store chain in 2021 from Marathon Petroleum Corp. This was in addition to her already-full plate before the global pandemic gripped the nation. In 2018, she led the charge to develop 7-Eleven’s mission and vision statements that serve as a consistent, guiding light for the brand and its employees. “Treasa has navigated 7-Eleven through the war on talent, implementing programs to improve employee retention and reduce turnover across the enterprise,” her nominator explained. “She is dedicated to fostering a great place to work by encouraging unique perspectives and talents amongst employees while also providing increased opportunities for women, underrepresented groups and veterans to start their own businesses as franchisees.” Her journey at 7-Eleven began in 1983 when she joined the company as an operation management trainee in Salt Lake City. Over her tenure, she has been promoted to roles with increasing responsibility. In 2017, she became vice president of human resources and Women’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging. In 2020, she was named 7-Eleven’s first chief diversity officer responsible for connecting the company’s DE&I strategy to business objectives with a special focus on leadership growth, cultural awareness and engagement, and talent management. She was promoted to her current role in 2022. Among her accolades, Bowers has received the 7-Eleven Inc. Ship Shape Award (1993), Division Staff Person of the Year (1994) and Human Resources Excellence Award (2013). She was previously recognized in the Top Women in Convenience program as a mentor in 2017.

Treasa Bowers Senior Vice President & Chief Human Resources Officer 7-Eleven Inc.

Kathy Cunnington Senior Vice President, Global Shared Services Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc./ Circle K

Upon joining Henry’s Foods Inc. in 2012 as a member of the Alexandria, Minn.-based company’s executive leadership team, Kellie Janssen set a path to become a part of the distributor’s fabric. “When I joined the team, my first key play was to learn all the ins and outs of who is Henry’s Foods,” she explained. “Many discoveries were made during this time, but the constant for framing my mindset of all things Henry’s was that our business may be about representing, selling and delivering products, but we need to focus on the excellence of delivering service. And if we can provide exceptional service in everything we do, we will always win. “The manufacturers write the story for the product we represent; our job is to take it from there and make it work. This has become the mindset for all that we do,” she added. Janssen established the vision, mission and value statement for a company that had been in business for more than eight decades. “I was coming into an 80-plus-year-old company that had purpose but didn’t necessarily have its identity in place,” she said. “Not a bad thing but in order to tell our story, own our space on the map for growth and always be beyond relevant, you have to know who you are. This involved taking a cumulative of its history, ingesting that and turning it into … who is Henry’s as it relates to partnerships with manufacturers, our valued team members, and our communities; you have to play into all those things. Knowing who, what and why is critical in being strong in all your pillars.” Recently, Janssen led the company through its acquisition by AMCON Distributing Co., which was announced in December 2022. The move sets up Henry’s Foods for further growth — giving the company enhanced facilities, capacity and geographic reach to serve customers. In addition to her role as president of Henry’s Foods, Janssen is deeply involved with the Convenience Distribution Association (CDA), where she has served on the board of directors and executive committee. She served as board chair in 2022. She also serves on the International Foodservice Distributors Association (IFDA) board. “Her knowledge in foodservice, retail, operations and finance provides CDA fresh insights into maintaining relevance and creating new conversation as to how CDA can provide increased value to supplier and distributor members,” her nominator said.

Kellie Janssen President Henry’s Foods Inc.

As all convenience store executives know, the industry can be a hard place to navigate on account of not only the sheer number of rules and regulations, but also the ever-changing nature of them. With that in mind, Eva Rigamonti faces an extraordinary task every day as associate general counsel/ executive director of public policy at Atlanta-based RaceTrac Inc. In her role, Rigamonti advises, develops and executes legislative and regulatory strategies on behalf of RaceTrac on a variety of issues that affect the company’s ability to succeed in the marketplace at the federal and state levels. According to her nominator, she is, in essence, RaceTrac’s “political risk management guru,” guiding and overseeing the organization’s political engagement and public affairs efforts. In helping the organization realize that what is good for the c-store industry is good for RaceTrac, she has expanded her role to include greater responsibilities as an industry thought leader and advisor. Rigamonti came to RaceTrac in September 2020 and in roughly three years, she has pushed every department to think differently about the impact of public policy. She advises the RaceTrac and RaceWay brands across an expanding 12-state footprint on federal and state policy issues that include transportation, energy, payments, food, tobacco, environment, alcohol, data security and privacy, labor and tax. In addition to helping RaceTrac navigate today’s landscape, Rigamonti also has an eye on the future. She has worked alongside NACS, NATSO and SIGMA to advocate for a philosophical approach to electric vehicle (EV) charging markets that is aligned with a fuel retailer’s business model, working to ensure the convenience industry has a place in the future of mobility. She also advocates to preserve the role of convenience stores in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the nation’s most important anti-hunger program. “While her external mission to represent the organization and the industry has become her most visible trademark, Eva’s heart is with RaceTrac, where she works internally to lift up others,” her nominator said. “She is an actively involved member of both LEAD and EMBRACE, RaceTrac’s business resource groups for women and people of color. By empowering others, she is having a tremendous impact on the organization’s diversity and inclusion initiatives and is helping to establish a new generation of leaders.” Calling Rigamonti a visionary, RaceTrac President Natalie Morhous said her title does not do her justice. “She builds relationships across the company, the industry and across the aisle — applying the knowledge she gleans from these relationships to shape and reshape the future,” Morhous said, pointing to Rigamonti’s efforts in advancing the relationship between the channel and the EV market. “She has connected with others to galvanize support on some of our industry’s most pressing issues. Just as important, Eva is a joy to work with. She makes her coworkers and colleagues feel valued and special each and every day. She is witty; she is kind; she is simply a gem, and the convenience industry is lucky to have her.”

Eva Rigamonti Associate General Counsel/Executive Director of Public Policy RaceTrac Inc.Trac Inc.

Kathy Williams serves as vice president of national retail sales at The Coca-Cola Co. However, her title could also be coach. Williams’ responsibilities fall into four main areas: leading and coaching a team of senior-level leaders; developing and advancing business relationships with key customers; providing collaborative thought leadership for C-suite convenience retail industry leaders; and driving results for The Coca-Cola Co.’s convenience retail business. With more than two decades of experience at The Coca-Cola Co., Williams is well-versed on the convenience channel. Though she tested the waters in various channels throughout her career, she found her niche in convenience after becoming a national account executive in 2004. In that role, she led national headquarters calls for two high-profile national convenience store chains, and imagined and executed the first “with food” bundle for Tulsa, Okla.-based QuikTrip Corp., overdelivering against objectives and gaining space and share. Since moving to her current position in 2013, her strategic leadership and passion for the convenience retail channel have grown to new heights. Within the company, she is known as an expert in channel and customer planning, with a proven track record of excellence in advanced customer collaborative business planning, according to her nominator. Key to her 26 years of success at the company are her communication skills. “Kathy’s approach to effecting change starts with consistent, clear communication up and down the organization and ends with developing her teams’ capabilities to ensure they are equipped with the necessary tools and resources to succeed, including training and development programs,” her nominator said. Williams is the leader of a $500 million annual revenue business spanning the eastern United States with more than 15 cross-functional teammates under her guidance. She is directly responsible and accountable for the annual P&L, and last year delivered a compound annual growth rate of 8 percent to 10 percent volume growth, and 11 percent organic growth vs. the prior year. Numbers aside, Williams leads by example and demonstrates the values and behaviors she expects from her team, according to her nominator. Beyond The Coca-Cola Co., she is a devoted mentor and advocate for female executives as a longtime member and leader within NextUp, formerly known as the Network of Executive Women. She is also a longtime member of NACS, where she previously served on the exhibition committee, and is a member of the Women’s Foodservice Forum. Williams was recognized as a senior-level leader in the 2014 Top Women in Convenience program. Additionally, she has been awarded numerous Most Valuable Supplier awards by customers, a clear indication of her exceptional ability to provide valuable service and expertise.

Kathy Williams Vice President, National Retail Sales The Coca-Cola Co.

PRODUCED BY

Kathy Cunnington has been a part of the Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. (ACT) and Circle K team since 2003. Within those 20 years, she has built up her experience through various financial leadership positions throughout the Laval, Quebec-based company. “When I look back at my career, there are certainly regrets, but there are also those jewels that work out, create value in many ways and make you smile. One of those jewel moments was when I hired Kathy Cunnington,” said ACT President and CEO Brian Hannasch. “Her commitment to our stores and our team members is unparalleled, and it’s all done with a smile. She has also been instrumental in our success in welcoming new companies into the Couche-Tard family, leading many integration aspects. Couche-Tard would not be where it is today without her.” Cunnington oversees all of the company’s Global Shared Services needs and support for its internal and external clients. She closely supports every department and business unit across the organization by constantly identifying risks and opportunities to improve support. As part of her Global Shared Services team, she has six direct reports and close to 1,000 indirect reports companywide. Her depart- mental teams include financial reporting, accounting, global insurance and risk, and payroll. Her teams are based in Charlotte, N.C., and Tempe, Ariz., as well as European offices in Riga, Latvia, Copenhagen, Denmark, and a call center in India. Cunnington’s work is also not limited to Global Shared Services. She cofounded the ACT Women’s Council and is a member of the Executive Committee for Diversity and Inclusion. Additionally, she is a proud ally and executive sponsor of ACT’s PRIDE Business Resource Group. She recently moderated the company’s global International Women’s Day Townhall celebrating trailblazing women throughout the company, and shared her experience as a woman leader and mother of three daughters. “It is impossible to imagine the company’s progress in diversity and inclusion without Kathy’s positive influence,” said Chief People Officer and 2020 TWIC Woman of the Year Ina Strand. In 2017, Cunnington was recognized as a senior-level leader in the Top Women in Convenience program. “Kathy is a fundamental and leading contributor to the growth and success of Alimentation Couche-Tard/Circle K. She brings decades of experience in, and love for, retail and fuel,” said retired Chief Financial Officer Claude Tessier. “Through her inclusive, inspiring leadership style, innovative mindset and ability to engage peers, Kathy seeks solutions and new ways to integrate shared services into the foundational aspects of business success, rather than solely as a support management tool.”

Vice President, Research & Education NACS

Lori Buss Stillman

Regional Account Manager, Central Premier Manufacturing Inc.

Cheryl Stinchfield

Director, Sales Advantage Solutions

Sallee Taylor

Vice President, Human Resources – Field Operations Casey’s General Stores Inc.

Nan Thomae

• Stillman began at NACS in research in 2019. Under her leadership, the association launched THRIVR, a marketing platform that enables convenience retailers to manage digital listings, social media, reviews and online reputation. She currently oversees the entirety of NACS’ educational programming and event content. • She is responsible for more than half of the 250 industry presentations NACS conducts per year, including the organization’s second-largest event, the State of the Industry Summit. Stillman also has increased the benefits NACS offers to members through transformed research offerings and new financial and operational tools. • A veteran of senior leadership at numerous companies, Stillman has received various honors for her work, including being twice awarded the Arthur C. Nielsen Chairman’s Award for leadership and enterprise value creation.

Deal heads all internal and external initiatives supporting Swisher’s equality, diversity and inclusion strategy, giving her a direct impact on company culture. In a dual role, she supports sales recruiting to find the best talent possible. • She was part of Swisher’s first employee resource groups and led the implementation of the women’s group, Women Who SHINE, and veterans’ group, Veterans of VALOR. She also created, managed and directed the company’s internship program for three years, focusing on students from local colleges in northern Florida and historically Black colleges and universities. • Known for her record of ongoing and exceptional growth, Deal has a reputation for not only protecting the positive culture that Swisher strives for, but also motivating others to do so as well.

• Lee is single handedly responsible for managing all of JUUL Labs’ internal and external communications. She creates and manages the yearly comm-unication engagement strategy and oversees a $200,000-plus budget while collaborating with the commercial leadership team on a regular basis for customer engagement strategy and messaging in all the commun-ications she creates. • Within the last year, she launched a new email automation platform called Pardot, which enables JUUL Labs to create specific and targeted email campaigns to customers nationwide. Additionally, she led an initiative to migrate, redesign and manage a new in-house content management platform that holds all internal and external field sales supporting documents; this resulted in yearly savings of $500,000 and improved employee communication. • Lee was the recipient of the 2022 Best Communicator Award, a peer-nominated accolade.