Tag Archives: The National Association of Convenience Stores

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The National Association of Convenience Stores elects four new retail members to serve on its Board of Directors

LAS VEGAS, 2015-10-13 — /EPR Retail News/ — The National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) announced the election of four retail members to serve on its Board of Directors. The new members were named to their positions during the NACS Board of Directors meeting at the NACS Show in Las Vegas.

The four NACS retail members elected to serve on the Board of Directors are:
•      Lisa Dell’Alba, president and CEO of Square One Markets (Bethlehem, PA)
•      Dee Dhaliwal, president of Dhaliwal & Associates (Pleasanton, CA)
•      Bill Kent, president and CEO, The Kent Companies dba Kent Kwik Convenience Stores (Midland, TX)
•      Victor Paterno, CEO of Philippine Seven Corp. dba 7-Eleven Convenience Store (Mandaluyong, Philippines)

A member-driven organization, NACS is led by a 30-member Board of Directors, which includes three retailers from non-North American countries. In addition, the chairman and chairman-elect of the NACS Supplier Board also serve on the Board of Directors.

Following are brief biographies of the new NACS Board members:

Lisa Dell’Alba
Founded in 1971, Square One Markets Inc. operates nine stores across five counties in Pennsylvania, and also owns and operates a fuel wholesale business, Keystone Fuels. Dell’Alba began her career in the family’s business as manager of the company’s flagship location. She then served a variety of roles before becoming human resources director and later vice president of operations. She was named president of Square One Markets in 2009, and is also the president of Keystone Fuels. Dell’Alba earned a B.A. in dance and psychology from De Sales University.  Dell’Alba and her husband have one son.

Dee Dhaliwal
Dhaliwal & Associates owns and operates a small chain of four convenience stores with gas and car washes, currently branded with Chevron fuel and Extra Mile stores.  Additionally, the family-owned company also operates several hotels, quick-service restaurants and a small classic car dealership. Dhaliwal has been in the convenience store industry for nearly 30 years. He has worked continuously in the family business, taking over as vice president in 1995. He serves on the Boards of several organizations, the California Independent Oil Marketers Association (CIOMA), the Pacific Oil Conference (POC) and the American Petroleum and Convenience Association (APCA), of which he is also a founding member. He is also a past president of the California Service Station and Auto Repair Association (CSSARA).

Dhaliwal graduated from the University of Southern California with a B.A. in communications. He and his wife have three children.

Bill Kent
Kent Oil and Kent Distributors Inc. were founded in 1957 by E. L. “Buck” Kent, and today operates more than 80 retail facilities, including 40 Kent Kwik convenience stores and travel stops, Huddle House restaurants, Rustic Cafe, Baskin-Robbins, Avis Lube fast oil change centers and Mr. Payroll check-cashing. Kent joined the family business in January 1980. In 1984, he acquired 100% of Kent Oil Inc. and Kent Distributors Inc. from family through a leveraged buyout. Since then, the companies have grown from 75 employees to over 1,100 team members. He is the current president of the Chevron Texaco Petroleum Marketers Association (CTPMA) and a member of the Chevron East Marketer Council. Kent received his B.S. in general business administration from Arizona State University. He and his wife, Julie, have three children.

Victor Paterno
Philippine Seven Corporation holds the license to operate 7-Eleven convenience stores in the Philippines.  It opened its first store in 1984, and went public in 1998.  In 2001, President Chain Store, 7-Eleven licensee of Taiwan acquired a majority stake. Paterno, an engineer, joined the company at his father’s (the chairman) invitation as construction and maintenance manager in 1993. The assignment was supposed to be temporary, but finding challenge in the hidden complexities of retailing, he stayed on longer than planned. He was appointed president and CEO in 2005 by majority shareholders President Chain Store of Taiwan. The company currently has 1,500 stores and intends to maintain a 25% store footprint growth trajectory over the next 10 years. Paterno and his wife, Melissa Balinghasay, have two children.

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Founded in 1961 as the National Association of Convenience Stores, NACS (nacsonline.com) is the international association for convenience and fuel retailing. The U.S. convenience store industry, with more than 152,700 stores across the country, posted $696.1 billion in total sales in 2014, of which $482.6 billion were motor fuels sales. NACS has 2,100 retail and 1,600 supplier member companies, which do business in nearly 50 countries.

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The National Association of Convenience Stores expressed disapproval of the sweeping new menu labeling regulations imposed by the FDA on small businesses

​ALEXANDRIA, VA,  2014-11-26 — /EPR Retail News/ — The National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) expressed disapproval of the sweeping new menu labeling regulations imposed on convenience stores and other food establishments including grocery stores, movie theaters, and vending machines by the Food and Drug Administration earlier today.

“The FDA has clearly gone beyond congressional intent by expanding the types of businesses that fall under this law to include convenience stores,” said Lyle Beckwith, senior vice president for government relations for NACS. “The one-size-fits-all approach that FDA announced today would treat convenience stores as though they are restaurants, when in fact they operate very differently. It is now up to the bipartisan, bicameral opponents of this regulatory overreach to enact legislation introduced in both houses of Congress that reasonably defines a restaurant as a business that derives at least 50% of revenue from prepared food.”

The Affordable Care Act, enacted in 2010, requires a national, uniform nutrition-disclosure standard for foodservice establishments. The broad rules announced today seek to establish this standard.

NACS has long advocated to the FDA that any menu labeling regulations must account for differences between the convenience store business model and a chain restaurant business model. The new rules announced today don’t recognize how convenience stores, grocery stores, delivery operations and other approaches to foodservice are different than restaurants. Further, the intent of law was designed for big chain restaurants with simple, standardized menus at all locations and Congress’s intent was to ensure those menus provide clear, understandable nutrition information.

NACS currently supports H.R. 1249, the Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act, that was introduced by Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Loretta Sanchez (D-CA), and S. 1756 that was introduced by Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Angus King (I-ME), both of which are currently pending in Congress. The legislation would codify a less burdensome approach to menu labeling by limiting the provision in the health-care law to establishments that derive 50% or more of their revenue from food that is intended for immediate consumption or prepared and processed on-site.

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Founded in 1961 as the National Association of Convenience Stores, NACS (nacsonline.com) is the international association for convenience and fuel retailing. The U.S. convenience store industry, with more than 151,000 stores across the country, posted $696 billion in total sales in 2013, of which $491 billion were motor fuels sales. NACS has 2,100 retail and 1,600 supplier member companies, which do business in nearly 50 countries.

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The National Association of Convenience Stores announced the election of its 2014-15 Executive Committee at the NACS Show in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS, 2014-10-13— /EPR Retail News/ — The National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) announced the election of its 2014-15 Executive Committee during its Board of Directors meeting at the NACS Show in Las Vegas.

Steve Loehr, vice president of operations support at La Crosse, Wisconsin-based Kwik Trip, was named the association’s 2014-15 chairman. Loehr also chairs the NACS Executive Committee, which provides strategic direction and financial oversight to the association.

Also named to the NACS Executive Committee were the following NACS retail members:
•      Vice Chairman-Treasurer: Jack Kofdarali, president at Corona, California-based J&T Management Inc.;
•      Vice Chairman, Legislative: Peter Tedeschi, president and CEO at Rockland, Massachusetts-based Tedeschi Food Shops;
•      Vice Chairman, Convention: Wendy Chronister, CEO of Chronister Oil Company (Qik-n-EZ)
•      Vice Chairman, Research: Joe Sheetz, president and CEO at Altoona, Pennsylvania-based Sheetz Inc.;
•      Vice Chairman, Member Services: Rahim Budhwani, CEO at Hoover, Alabama-based 6040 LLC;
•      Vice Chairman, International: Frank Gleeson, retail director at Dublin, Ireland-based Topaz Energy Group Limited; and
•      Vice Chairman: Tony Kenney, president, at Enon, Ohio-based Speedway LLC

Also on the NACS Executive Committee are 2013-14 NACS Chairman Brad Call, vice president of adventure culture at Maverik (North Salt Lake City, Utah); and 2012-13 Chairman Dave Carpenter, president and CEO at J.D. Carpenter Companies Inc. (Urbandale, Iowa).

Here are biographies of the newly elected NACS Executive Committee members:

Steve Loehr: 2014-15 NACS Chairman
Loehr is vice president of operations support for Kwik Trip Inc., which operates more than 400 Kwik Trip and Kwik Star convenience stores throughout three states.

A fourth-generation, family-owned business, Kwik Trip opened its first store in 1965 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. In addition to its corporate Support Center, which handles the administrative needs of stores, the company owns a bakery, commissary, dairy, distribution warehouse and vehicle maintenance divisions.

Prior to joining Kwik Trip 24 year ago, Loehr owned and operated a supermarket in the 1980s and worked for Gateway Foods of Pennsylvania, serving four years as its president. He is active in a number of industry groups, serving on the boards of the Wisconsin Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Store Association and Wisconsin Grocers Association, and is a member of SIGMA. He also is a board member of Merchants Bank, Martin Luther College, Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance and Western Technical College.

Loehr earned a B.S. in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. He and his wife Cheryl have four children.

Jack Kofdarali, Vice Chairman-Treasurer
Kofdarali is president of J&T Management Inc. As the vice chairman-treasurer, he is responsible for overseeing the association’s financial plan. He has most recently served as NACS vice chairman of convention.

Born in Beirut, Lebanon, Kofdarali came to United State in 1980. He and his family purchased their first business, a liquor store in Newport Beach, California. In 1990, they purchased their first gas station in Calimesa, California. In 2000, he became sole owner of the J&R Oil Company.

Kofdarali expanded J&R Oil Company to J&T Management as the business grew and interests diversified. J&T Management also specializes in building commercial retail centers throughout Southern California as well as owning and managing apartment units in Texas.

Kofdarali and his wife Taline have three children.

Peter Tedeschi: Vice Chairman, Legislative

Tedeschi is president and CEO of Tedeschi Food Shops. As the vice chairman of legislative, he oversees the NACS Legislative Committee and the efforts of NACSPAC, the convenience store industry’s political action committee.

He is part of the third generation of the family-owned business that began in 1923 when his grandfather, Angelo Tedeschi, started selling imported Italian meats and cheeses from his home.

Prior to joining Tedeschi Food Shops as its president and COO in 2008, Tedeschi was an entrepreneurial pioneer in the computer industry before becoming an executive in Boston’s financial industry, where he was senior vice president and director of operations for Putnam Investments.

Tedeschi attended Thayer Academy and graduated as the president of his senior class from Stonehill College with a degree in political science. He and his wife Katherine have twin sons.

Wendy Chronister: Vice Chairman, Convention
Chronister is the CEO of Chronister Oil Company dba Qik-n-EZ. As the NACS vice chairman of convention, Chronister oversees the activities of the Convention Committee, which oversees the development and implementation of NACS events, including the NACS Show.

She has been CEO of Chronister Oil Co. since 2009. Previously, she was a partner at Waud Capital Partners LLC and at Kirkland and Ellis. Chronister is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and Young President’s Organization/Chicago Chapter. She previously served on the boards of Regency Hospital Company, ASG Security LLC, Acadia Healthcare LLC, Maxum Petroleum (f/k/a SPI Holdings LLC) and was chairman of True Partners Consulting LLC. She also serves on the board of the Joffrey Ballet Company of Chicago, the Board of Trustees of the University of Chicago Cancer Research Foundation, the Women’s Board of the Field Museum of Chicago, and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Chicago.

Chronister graduated cum laude from Dartmouth College in 1987, earning an A.B. in government. In 1992, she graduated magna cum laude from the University of Illinois College of Law in Champaign, Illinois.

Joe Sheetz: Vice Chairman, Research

Sheetz is president and CEO of Sheetz Inc. As the vice chairman of research, he oversees the NACS Research Committee, which directs the association’s research and development initiatives and programs to promote the ongoing competitive viability of the channel.

Since 1952, Sheetz Inc. has grown from a small dairy/deli in Altoona, to one of the fastest- growing, family-owned convenience stores in the world. Sheetz joined the company in 1995 as director of personnel and later served as executive vice president of finance and store development before being promoted to his current position in October 2013. He previously was a pension and benefit consultant for Consulting Group Inc. (CGI).

He is the former chairman and current board member of both Altoona Blair Country Development Corporation and Mount Aloysius College, an Advisory Board Member of M&T Bank Corporation, and co-founder and board member of Operation Our Town. He also serves on the NACS Coca-Cola Retailing Research Council.

Sheetz earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. He and his wife Wendy reside in Altoona and have two children.

Frank Gleeson: Vice Chairman, International
Gleeson is the managing director of Aramark Ireland. As the NACS vice chairman of international, Gleeson chairs the International Committee and directs the association’s global engagement.

Aramark Ireland has more than 5,000 employees across 985 locations. Its world-class experience and expertise in workplace solutions, foodservice, convenience retailing, environmental services and property enables it to provide a fully integrated solution to Irish and EMEA companies.

He began his career in retail as an operations director for O’Brien’s Fine Wines. He later served as vice president of retail for Statoil Ireland. More recently he was retail director for Topaz Energy Group since 2005, where he led the rebranding of the company in 2008 and was responsible for the retail business of more than 340 sites. Gleeson is chairman of Retail Ireland and a council member of Irish employers group IBEC and also Chairman of IBEC’s energy policy committee. He is a member of the Irish Directors Institute and treasurer of Parnell’s GAA club. He graduated in business management from the Irish Management Institute. He and his wife Marian have four children.

Rahim Budhwani: Vice Chairman, Member Services
Budhwani is president and CEO of 6040 LLC. As the NACS vice chairman of member services, he oversees the association’s Member Services Committee, which sets the strategic direction for NACS with respect to retail membership value.

Budhwani served on the Board of Directors of the Petroleum and Convenience Marketers of Alabama and on the NACS/Coca-Cola Retailing Research Council. He serves on the Board the Alabama Underground Trust Fund and also played a vital role in building the relationship between the National Alliance of Trade Associations and NACS.

He earned a B.S. in information technology from the University of Pune and a degree in hotel management and food technology. He is currently working on a degree in aviation business administration and was also a lieutenant in the Civil Air Patrol, an auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force. Budhwani and his wife Kulsum live in Hoover, Alabama, with their two children.

Tony Kenney: Vice Chairman

Tony Kenney is president of Speedway LLC, which operates approximately 1,470 stores in seven states.

He has 38 years of experience in the convenience retailing and fuels industries. In 2005, he was named president of Speedway. Kenney has held numerous positions within Marathon Oil Corporation’s International and Domestic Exploration and Production Accounting organizations and in MPC’s Supply and Transportation and Business Development organizations. At Speedway, he previously served as commercial manager, controller, treasurer and vice president of finance and ITS.

Kenney is a member of the Board of Trustees for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and serves on the board of directors of the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce and the Dayton Children’s Foundation.

He earned a B.S. in accounting from Miami University and also completed the Executive Program at the University Raymond and John.

NOTE: Photos are available upon request.

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Founded in 1961 as the National Association of Convenience Stores, NACS (nacsonline.com) is the international association for convenience and fuel retailing. The U.S. convenience store industry, with more than 151,000 stores across the country, posted $696 billion in total sales in 2013, of which $491 billion were motor fuels sales. NACS has 2,100 retail and 1,600 supplier member companies, which do business in nearly 50 countries.

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The National Association of Convenience Stores selects 11 college students as recipients of $3,000 NACS Scholarship

LAS VEGAS, 2014-10-13— /EPR Retail News/ — The National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) recoignized11 college students who were selected as recipients of a $3,000 NACS Scholarship from the Convenience Store Foundation for Education and Research.

In addition to the $3,000 scholarship, each of the recipients received a stipend to attend this year’s NACS Show in Las Vegas, where they were recognized during a ceremony on Thursday, October 9.

Students were nominated by a company official within their organization for academic excellence, leadership and a passion for convenience and fuel retailing. The 2014-2015 NACS Scholarship recipients, each of whom is currently employed with a NACS retail member company, are:

•      Dawn Carmichael, store leader, QuickChek Corporation
•      Noah Cotton, information systems intern, RaceTrac Petroleum Inc.
•      Carolina Goyn, store manager, Loaf ‘N Jug
•      Brandi King, transportation administrator, Wallis Companies
•      Tina McCoy, sales associate, Sheetz Inc.
•      Tiffany Payne, executive administrator, Wallis Companies
•      Joel Ortiz Galvez, manager, The Spinx Company Inc.
•      Allison Ouellette, enthusiasm engineer, Bobby & Steve’s Auto World
•      Yvette Ocampo, advisor II lead, Delta Sonic Car Wash Systems
•      Derek Trout, shift leader, Bobby & Steve’s Auto World
•      Geneva Soule, finance associate, QuickChek Corporation

Through its Convenience Store Foundation for Education and Research, NACS helps its retail members recognize and develop future convenience store industry leaders through the NACS Scholarship Program, which was established in 1999 to honor the memory of industry icon Jim Yates, founder of E-Z Mart Stores and former NACS Chairman. In 2011, a donation from Altria expanded the program to include honoring the memory of David Erickson, former CEO of Erickson Oil Products.

Now in its 15th year, the NACS Scholarship Program continues to provide a way for NACS retail members to recognize, reward and inspire top talent within their companies by investing in their employees’ education and excellence.

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Founded in 1961 as the National Association of Convenience Stores, NACS (nacsonline.com) is the international association for convenience and fuel retailing. The U.S. convenience store industry, with more than 151,000 stores across the country, posted $696 billion in total sales in 2013, of which $491 billion were motor fuels sales. NACS has 2,100 retail and 1,600 supplier member companies, which do business in nearly 50 countries.