NACS Executive Leadership Program at Cornell

The NACS Master of Convenience designation acknowledges the hard work and investment NACS members have made in their personal leadership development. It is awarded to convenience retailers who have attended 3 or more of the 5 NACS Executive Education programs. For questions, contact Brandi Mauro, NACS Education Program Manager: bmauro@convenience.org or (703) 518-4223.

Henry Armour is the president and CEO of NACS. He grew up working in his family’s retail businesses, Armour Oil Company, rising to the position of vice president and COO in 1977. In 1980, he joined The Standard Oil Company of Ohio, where he served as manager of development strategies. He later founded West Star Corporation, which grew to include 59 NOW! convenience stores, truck stops and quick-service restaurants in the Pacific Northwest until he sold the company in 2004. In 1988, Armour founded Epoch Corporation, which operated retail enterprises in California.

He became president and CEO of NACS in July 2005, having also served as the association’s chairman in 2002 and 2003. Armour earned a BA in economics from Stanford University, an MSc in economics from the London School of Economics, and an MBA and PhD in economics from Stanford University.

Dan is a global retail and consumer packaged goods executive with broad experience across diverse business environments and formats, leading traditional food retail operations and merchandising, as well as product development, consumer and category analytics, sourcing and procurement, global trading, national sales and ecommerce. Dan is an outstanding strategist and general manager, and he has led the successful startup of multiple diverse businesses. Known for and recognized as one of the world’s leading authorities on retailers’ proprietary brands, he has shaped clients’ programs across four continents and eight classes of trade. His passion is in helping companies see their unique DNA and positioning and creating actionable marketing and sales strategies essential for their success.

After earning a degree from Cornell University in Agribusiness and Marketing, Dan plunged headlong into retail joining Aldi Foods as a District Manager. In the early 1990’s Wakefern/ShopRite was very concerned about Aldi’s expansion east and Dan jumped at the opportunity to start a business, and moved to West Springfield, MA and opened the first Price Rite Store. Today there are over 70 Price Rite stores that generate over $1 Billion in annual revenue and they are a strategic growth driver for Wakefern.

After spending two years at Arthur Andersen as a retail consultant Dan spent fourteen years at Daymon Worlwide working with manufacturers and retailers across the world. Dan’s career at Daymon progressed rapidly, and In 2011 Dan was appointed to the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) as the Chief Supplier Officer (CSO). As the CSO Dan was responsible for Category Management and Analytics, Supplier Relationships, Global Sourcing and Procurement and ran Daymon’s import and export businesses. As a member of the ELT Dan was instrumental in re-inventing Daymon from consulting/brokerage company to a broader retail services company. Dan left Daymon at the end of 2013 and joined Trilliant Food and Nutrition in January of 2014 as the Vice President of Sales for national accounts and ecommerce.

For the last four years Dan has focused on the digital channel selling to ecommerce retailers and running multi-million-dollar businesses for Walmart.com and Jet.com.

And today, Dan is on the Faculty at the SC Johnson College of Business at Cornell University where he teaches both graduates and undergraduates in Food and Consumables Marketing, Supply Chain Strategy, and he is the Director of External Education for the Food Industry Management Program.

Dan has an MBA from the University of Connecticut.

Stephen Sauer is a dedicated scholar and educator whose research and teaching interests revolve around leadership, team dynamics, entrepreneurship, and diversity in management. His work has been published in a number of academic journals including Leadership Quarterly, Organization Science, Journal of Applied Psychology, and Human Resource Management. His research has also been featured in a variety of mainstream media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, Forbes.com, and USA Today, among others.

Sauer's teaching experience includes courses in leadership, strategy, negotiations, and organizational behavior at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, and he has extensive experience leading executive education workshops and seminars for a number of major corporations. He is also an entrepreneur in residence at Cornell's Center for Regional Economic Advancement and Rev: Ithaca Startup Works and is a member of the teaching team for the NSF Innovation Corps national program.

Sauer earned his PhD in management, along with an MBA and a master's in business and policy administration, all from Cornell University. He also holds a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Before transitioning to academia, he gained valuable experience as an organizational change consultant and plant manager, following seven years of service as an armored cavalry officer in the US Army.

Kyle Vowinkel is founder of Elite Mindsets, keynote speaker, and corporate leadership trainer who elevates teams to extraordinary performance levels.

He provides practical and actionable insights on leadership, communication, and negotiation strategies based on over 30 years experience in high stakes situations. Kyle served on two different elite U.S. National assets, each responsible for handling the most volatile situations: first as an operator on the Department of Justice’s counter-terrorism unit, the FBI Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) capturing the nation's most dangerous criminals; and then as a hostage negotiator on the FBI Crisis Negotiation Unit (CNU) where he matched wits with kidnappers, pirates, and terrorists.

Notably, Kyle persuaded the Boston Marathon bomber to peacefully surrender.

Leveraging his multifaceted experiences across HRT and CNU, as well as his distinguished roles as an FBI Senior Executive and U.S. Army officer, Kyle weaves captivating and powerful stories intertwined with invaluable lessons and mental frameworks that are transferrable to leaders across diverse industries.

Multiple Fortune 500 companies received Kyle's impactful presentations, along with esteemed academic institutions such as West Point and Cornell University.

His thought leadership extends beyond the stage, with hundreds of thousands of downloads garnered across prominent podcasts and media features, including Fox News True Crime and FBI Retired Case File Review.