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In this rapid-fire Q&A, hear what may affect convenience retailers in U.S. legislation and policy. Related Links: NACS Advocacy Issues Take Action on NACS Issues Hosted by: Carolyn Schnare About our Guests: Anna Blom, Director of Government Relations, NACS; Doug Kantor, General Counsel, NACS; Jon Taets, Director of Government Relations, NACS In their roles at NACS, Anna Blom, Doug Kantor and Jon Taets work tirelessly to protect the best interests of the convenience and fuel retailing industry before Congress and federal government agencies — especially against rules and regulations that can have a negative impact on business.

The Biden Administration wants half a million EV charging units in the U.S. by 2030. Retailers, utilities, and other businesses are brainstorming how to make it happen on target and on budget. Related Links: Fuels Institute EV Council reports Hosted by: John Eichberger, Executive Director, Fuels Institute and Paige Anderson, Director of Government Relations, NACS About our Guest: Erika Myers, Acting Director of Global eMobility, World Resources Institute Erika Myers is an electric vehicle subject matter expert at WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities. She leads the electric mobility team’s research efforts and works with cities across the globe to identify opportunities to electrify transportation, including infrastructure deployment and vehicle-grid integration methods for public transit and other municipal fleets. Erika has worked for nearly two decades on clean energy, alternative transportation fuels, and distributed energy resource topics in government, for-profit, and non-profit roles. Her background gives her a unique perspective on the opportunity to leverage renewable energy and electric vehicle charging to reduce emissions through the widespread deployment of vehicle-grid integration

Working with trusted partners and tying metrics to project outcomes is imperative to success. Related Links: Stuzo webpage Hosted by: Carolyn Schnare and Donovan Woods About our Guest: As Stuzo’s Chief Marketing Officer, Aaron leads the company’s marketing department, supports go-to-market efforts, and leads media relations, analyst relations, and product marketing. Aaron is also a serial technology entrepreneur, a lifelong musician / composer, and co-founder and former Board Member of Philly Startup Leaders.

Technology makes everything move faster, even customer visits. Forward-thinking retailers are focusing on self-checkout and mobile payment options with the goal of increasing customer traffic. Related Links: NACS Convenience Retail Technology Implementation & Benchmarks J & H Family Stores Gilbarco Veeder-Root Hosted by: Carolyn Schnare, Director Strategic Initiatives, NACS About our Guests: Patrick Loftus, Survey Research and Data Visualization Manager, NACS Patrick Loftus manages a robust portfolio of quantitative and qualitative research solutions designed to meet the unique needs of the convenience and fuel retail industry, including the NACS State of the Industry Report and NACS State of the Industry Compensation Report, as well as the NACS CSX benchmarking database and annual NACS State of the Industry Summit. Chris Whitley, Vice President of Marketing and Sales, Gilbarco Veeder-Root Chris Whitley is the Vice President of Marketing and Sales for Gilbarco Veeder-Root, the global producer of retail fueling solutions, electric vehicle chargers and point-of-sale (POS) systems. Karen Meyer is the Retail Operations Manager for J&H Family Stores. Over the past fifty years, J & H Oil Company has grown to supply hundreds of commercial customers, over 120 retail locations, 60 of which are company-owned and operated convenience stores spanning from East Lansing to Holland, Cadillac to Kalamazoo. Karen is responsible for retail fuel pricing, store technology and store operations.

Learn how to better handle and react to change with easy-to-remember, life-changing tools in this fun and uplifting episode. Related Links: Being Better with Jennifer Powers Website Hosted by: Carolyn Schnare, Director Strategic Initiatives, NACS and Rose Johnson, Audience Development and Production Manager, NACS About our Guest: Jennifer Powers, Master Certified Coach, Powerhouse, Inc. In 2009, Jennifer Powers published the best-selling book, Oh, shift! and a few years later Oh, shift! for Teens and its accompanying curriculum. Good shift! How to deal with change before it deals with you was released in 2020.

Investing in new store equipment and lights can save thousands of dollars per year. How does your store measure up? Related Links: NACS Convenience Store Energy Use Survey NACS/Energy Star Tools NACS Energy Star Survey Hosted by: Carolyn Schnare, Director Strategic Initiatives, NACS and Paige Anderson, Director of Government Relations, NACS About our Guest: Patrick Loftus, Survey Research and Data Visualization Manager, NACS Patrick Loftus manages a robust portfolio of quantitative and qualitative research solutions designed to meet the unique needs of the convenience and fuel retail industry, including the NACS State of the Industry Report and NACS State of the Industry Compensation Report, as well as the NACS CSX benchmarking database and annual NACS State of the Industry Summit. Loftus worked at Gartner and its former subsidiary CEB for more than a decade in a series of increasingly responsible positions, most recently as senior principal of data science and benchmarking. In this role, he directed more than 20 diagnostic survey and benchmarking initiatives with participation from approximately 1,000 clients across sectors annually.

Good leaders appreciate that employee experience is critical to the delivery of a great customer experience. Related Links: The Michelli Experience Hosted by: Carolyn Schnare, Director Strategic Initiatives, NACS and Rose Johnson, Audience Development and Production Manager, NACS About our Guest: Joseph Michelli, CEO, The Michelli Experience Joseph A. Michelli, Ph.D., C.S.P., is a speaker, author, and organizational consultant who transfers his knowledge of exceptional business practices in ways that develop joyful and productive workplaces with a focus on customer experience. His insights encourage leaders and frontline workers to grow and invest passionately in all aspects of their lives. Dr. Michelli is a Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, Nielson BookScan, and New York Times #1 bestselling author. His latest book is Stronger Through Adversity: World-Class Leaders Share Pandemic-Tested Lessons on Thriving During the Toughest Challenges.

Two things stand out in great c-stores around the world: friendly customer service and tidy, clean stores. Related Links: Insight Research Website CAF European 2021 C-Store Shopper Insights Survey Hosted by: Carolyn Schnare, Director Strategic Initiatives, NACS and Chris Blasinsky, Content Strategist, NACS About our Guests: Nick Scherzer, Director, Insight Research Insight Director, Nick Scherzer joined the business over a decade ago and is a recognized expert on the European and international convenience and fuel retail markets. Nick has led Insight’s global strategic store visit program for many years, building a strong network of relationships with retailers across the globe. Prior to joining Insight, Nick spent 12 years in a variety of operational roles with SPAR South Africa, one of the most sophisticated operators of the SPAR brand globally. Mike G. Zahajko, Executive Vice President, CAF Mike Zahajko is an insight leader and teacher in the retail petroleum industry with experience as a fuel retailer at Tesoro, an industry supplier and speaker. In his current role as Executive Vice President of Sales for CAF Outdoor Cleaning, Mike works closely with over 50 of the top 100 largest c-store retailers and grocery stores in the U.S.

Convenience stores sell a lot of food, but finding a destination for unused food is important. Donating leftover food is easy with Feeding America for both small and large c-store operators. Related Links: Feeding America Corporate Donations MealConnect NACS Information on Donations Hosted by: Carolyn Schnare, Director Strategic Initiatives, NACS and Jeff Lenard, VP Strategic Industry Initiatives, NACS About our Guest: Danielle Lawson, Account Manager, Feeding America Danielle Lawson is an account manager for Feeding America’s Retail Partnerships team, managing a portfolio of national donors that collectively helped provide over 119 million meals to people in need, in 2020. Danielle has been doing work to eliminate food insecurity for 9 years, first at Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin, and now at the national level, on behalf of 200 (Feeding America) member food banks. Prior to this work, she immersed herself in the clothing and toy industries, as a buyer for companies like Lands’ End, American Girl, and Target. She also spent time as a cooking class instructor, and a personal chef. Danielle lives in Madison, Wisconsin, with her husband of 32 years, and their 9-year-old rescue mutt, Murray.

High-quality, effective, and well-designed digital content is important, especially when the goal is to enhance the customer experience. Related Links: Abierto Sample Content LG Business Solutions Episode #248 The Future of Forecourt Communication is in Pixels Hosted by: Carolyn Schnare, Director Strategic Initiatives, NACS About our Guests: Rick Sales, President, Abierto Enrique (Rick) Sales has served as the President of Abierto since it was founded in 2005. He has an extensive background in the Convenience and Fueling industry, working as the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Intelligent Controls before starting Abierto. As technology changes, Rick continues to evolve the company and adapt to new industry trends and problems. Rick has a black belt in Taekwondo, enjoys fishing, and is a rabid Celtics fan. Abierto Networks is a Digital Engagement Solutions provider focused on the Convenience Store and Convenience Foodservice Retail industries. Their digital marketing solutions integrate in-store digital signage, digital menu, engagement kiosks, mobile coupons and mobile engagement technologies to help retailers increase sales by maximizing consumer upsell, cross-sell and revisit opportunities. Dan Smith, U.S. Vice President of Business Development, LG Electronics. Dan Smith is the U.S. vice president of business development for LG Electronics. Dan has led sales and engineering teams to develop new markets and customers by combining technical, academic and practical knowledge with decades of market knowledge.

Testing, learning, analyzing and ruffling some feathers are some of the keys to success for launching new ideas. Related Links: Andy Ellwood's website Hosted by: Chris Blasinsky, Content Strategist, NACS and Britt Brewer, Marketing Manager, NACS About our Guest: Andy Ellwood, Founder, Basket Andy Ellwood is an Executive Coach based in NYC and serves coaching partners worldwide. Andy partners with entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and corporate executives to tackle the challenges of leadership, fundraising, and growth. Andy spent over a decade as a startup operator. First leading partnerships and sales for companies acquired by Google (Waze) and Facebook (Gowalla) before then going on to found three companies of his own.

The inaugural 2020 Fuel Leaders report, published by Fuels Market News and NACS and compiled by OPIS, tracks the performance of over 250 fuel retailers with a solid overview of the industry’s top 50 fuel operators. In this episode, we'll talk about the methodology and analysis behind the rankings. Related Links: 2020 Fuel Leaders, Fuels Market News Magazine OPIS Brand Power Ranking Report OPIS RetailSuite Hosted by: Jeff Lenard, VP Strategic Industry Initiatives, NACS About our Guests: Keith Reid, Editor, Fuels Market News Keith Reid founded Fuels Market News, a multifaceted digital and print media company in 2013 to focus on the needs of petroleum marketers, retailers and commercial fuel buyers. The company was acquired by NACS in 2020. Brian Norris, Executive Director of Retail Fuels, OPIS Brian joined OPIS in 2005, working in a variety of sales and marketing roles before joining the OPIS Retail division. Over the last 10 years, Brian has worked to ensure the accuracy and integrity of OPIS retail pricing, margin, market share, and volume data and helping to develop the OPIS retail database. He graduated from Washington College in 2005 with a degree in Business Management.

Having an app is not a strategy, it's just one step in building a cohesive digital strategy to enhance the customer's experience. Find out what else makes up a digitally sophisticated brand. Related Links: Hathway Website Hosted by: Donovan Woods, Director of Operations, Fuels Institute and Chris Blasinsky, Content Strategist, NACS About our Guests: Matt Carinio, VP, Strategy, Hathway With 20 years of operations, R&D, product and marketing experience in the online and mobile space, Matt Carinio thrives on formulating executable solutions to complex problems. With proven methods that allow organizational leaders to successfully uncover challenges that they were unaware of or to just clarify ones that are already known, Matt's goal is always to make their business and them as individuals successful through the process of strategic planning and execution. Sam Herro, Director of Business Development, Hathway Sam Herro is the Director of Business Development at Hathway. In his role, he’s tasked with growing Hathway’s presence in the convenience store industry, working across Hathway’s current convenience store clients. Prior to Hathway, Herro served as Director of Member Development at Study Groups and as Director of Retail at Kum & Go. For the past decade, he has sought innovative ways to change the how, what, and where of convenience. In his most recent roles, he has facilitated mastermind groups of top executives in the convenience industry in addition to leading the fueling innovation for one of the largest convenience retailers in the US.

According to this independent operator, "your net worth is your network" and connecting with other entrepreneurs is the best way to grow your business. Hear tips to attract and retain employees and beat your competition from 3-store convenience retailer, Bassem Nowyhed. Hosted by: Jeff Lenard, VP Strategic Industry Initiatives, NACS and Carolyn Schnare, Director Strategic Initiatives, NACS About our Guest: Bassem Nowyhed, Convenience Store Franchise Owner and Founder of Invig Consulting Bassem Nowyhed has more than a decade of experience in convenience store management and the Food & Beverage industry. As a forward thinker and natural networker, Bassem’s brought numerous innovations to the multiple convenience store franchise locations he owns in California.

Innovation is important but it must be done with purpose and intention and with leadership to lead it and a culture to accept it. How do you take innovation from the C-suite to the C-store? Related Links: Leapfrogging Hosted by: Jeff Lenard, VP Strategic Industry Initiatives, NACS and Chris Blasinsky, Content Strategist, NACS About our Guest: Soren Kaplan, Managing Principal, InnovationPoint Soren Kaplan is the bestselling and award winning author of Leapfrogging and The Invisible Advantage, an Affiliate at the Center for Effective Organizations at USC’s Marshall School of Business, a writer for Fast Company and Inc. Magazine, a globally recognized keynote speaker, the Founder of InnovationPoint and Co-founder of Praxie. He holds Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in Organizational Psychology, resides in the San Francisco Bay Area, and possesses dual US-French citizenship.

According to NACS research, 2021 is shaping up to be a good year for c-store sales. But, it depends whether you compare sales to 2019 or 2020, what category you're looking at, where you live and whether trends stay or go. Related Links: NACS Research NACS State of the Industry Report NACS | CSX Hosted by: Donovan Woods, Director of Operations, Fuels Institute and Chris Blasinsky, Content Strategist, NACS About our Guest: Chris Rapanick, Director, Business Development, NACS | CSX, LLC Christopher Rapanick is the Director of Business Development for NACS | CSX, LLC. With more than 18 years of experience in the wholesale, B2B and retail sales environment, Chris is an expert in analyzing retail sales and has been an integral part of data collection for CSX and NACS State of the Industry for many years.  

Convenience store sales of fresh and prepackaged foodservice items have grown exponentially in the last decade. Find out what convenient options prevailed during the pandemic and are expected to propel growth into the future. Related Links: Core-Mark website Hosted by: Carolyn Schnare, Director Strategic Initiatives, NACS and Jeff Lenard, VP Strategic Industry Initiatives, NACS About our Guest: Jac Moskalik, Corporate Director of Fresh & Foodservice, Core-Mark International Jac Moskalik is the Corporate Director of Fresh and Foodservice for Core-Mark International. Jac has over 20 years of experience in marketing, sales and operations within the food industry, primarily fresh and food service. Prior to joining Core-Mark, Jac was the Senior Director of Independent Fresh at KeHE Distributors and held roles in Category Management for Bakery, Fresh, and Foodservice at Brookshire Grocery Company, Meijer and Minyard Food Stores. Sponsored by: Core-Mark International

Most convenience retailers have food safety processes and training in place, many also find that that a lack of consistency and agreement among employees is driving an increased focus on food safety culture. Related Links: Cultivate Food Safety website NACS Magazine, October 2020 "Growing a Culture of Food Safety" NACS Magazine, July 2017 "Protecting Your Food Brand" NACS Food Safety Resources Hosted by: Chris Blasinsky, Content Strategist, NACS and Jeff Lenard, VP Strategic Industry Initiatives, NACS About our Guest: Lone Jespersen, Founder, Cultivate Lone Jespersen is an entrepreneur, high-level strategist, food safety expert & visionary dedicated to helping food manufacturers deliver safe and quality food through culture-driven intervention. She has dedicated the last 15 years of her life to bettering food manufacturing operations and studying how culture affects food safety performance. Lone holds a Master in Mechanical Engineering from Syd Dansk University in Denmark, a Master of Food Science from the University of Guelph in Canada, and a Ph.D. on Culture Enabled Food Safety. She also serves as chair of Food Safety Culture for the GFSI technical working group dedicated to characterizing and quantifying food safety culture across the global food industry from farm to fork.

Retail competition for share of customer dollars has never been so great as the lines between channels continue to blur. Seamless digital experiences earn a customer's loyalty - no matter how, where and when they shop. Related Links: Stuzo Website NACS Daily "Rewards Programs Boost Store Transactions" Hosted by: Carolyn Schnare, Director Strategic Initiatives, NACS and Donovan Woods, Director of Operations, Fuels Institute About our Guest: Aaron McLean, Chief Marketing Officer, Stuzo As Stuzo’s Chief Marketing Officer, Aaron leads the company’s marketing department, supports go-to-market efforts, and leads media relations, analyst relations, and product marketing. Aaron is also a serial technology entrepreneur, a lifelong musician / composer, and co-founder and former Board Member of Philly Startup Leaders.

24/7 Day spotlights the convenience retail industry's important role in supporting the communities served and where convenience stores can show these frontline workers they care in small, tangible ways. Find out how to get involved on July 24th at 247Day.org. Related Links: 24/7 Day NACS Foundation Homepage Hosted by: Jeff Lenard, VP Strategic Industry Initiatives, NACS About our Guests: Stephanie Sikorski, Executive Director, NACS Foundation Stephanie Sikorski is VP of Marketing and Director of the NACS Foundation for NACS. In this role, she leads the development of integrated marketing strategies and executes campaigns to effectively grow the organization’s brand. In marketing NACS programs, products, and events, her focus is centered on educating, engaging stakeholders and activating supporters—and those that strive to influence social behaviors—to benefit target audiences and general society/industry. Lindsay Buchanan-Puig, Marketing Coordinator, NACS Lindsay Buchanan-Puig is the Marketing Coordinator for NACS and is responsible for executing NACS Foundation campaigns, including the scholarship and internship programs, and the national 24/7 Day campaign. Additionally in her marketing role, Lindsay implements integrated print and digital campaigns to promote NACS events and offerings including the Convenience Matters podcast. Lindsay graduated from Middle Tennessee State University with a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism.