NACS Human Resources Forum

Tara Antle, Field Talent Acquisition Manager, has been with Casey’s for seven years. Casey’s is headquartered in Ankeny, Iowa, and has over 43,000 team members across its 16-state footprint in the Midwest. With her team of 15, Tara supports the field staffing and hiring for over 2,400 stores. Tara brings a strategic business partner approach to recruiting by really learning the strengths and opportunities of each leader, building impactful relationships, and telling the story of staffing metrics. She helps everyone around her understand recruiting is more than bringing someone in the door – it’s winning the community, total brand marketing, business outcomes, and performance. Tara’s innovative approaches to staffing, including rolling out centralized hiring in key markets and the utilization of video recruiting, have helped drive fast fill rates and high retention rates. Her ability to understand the details and tell the big picture story led to her recently receiving an internal department Culture Champion award. Prior to joining Casey’s, Tara spent 25 years with QuikTrip, in operations and HR leadership roles. In addition to her operations upbringing and operator mindset, Tara has a BA in Psychology and a Master’s in Organizational Leadership from Grand View University. After a life dedicated to the Convenience Store Industry, Tara was honored in the Mentor Category from Top Women in Convenience in 2021. When not out visiting and helping Casey’s stores, Tara enjoys quality time with her husband and three wonderful boys. Having a new grandbaby brings the family much joy.

Tiger was founded 41 years ago in Charlottesville, Virginia as a home heating oil distributor. Since it’s humble beginnings with only two trucks on the lot, Tiger has grown to four divisions in multiple states. Those four divisions are Fuel Distribution (Tiger Fuel), Solar Installation (Tiger Solar), Car Washes (Tiger Wash), and Gourmet Gas Stations known as The Markets. Tiger’s first gourmet gas station was founded in 1991 and will grow to it’s 10 location in fall of 2023. Tiger prides itself in being an employee focused company and remains a family owned and operated.

Shaleena Arreguin is an HR professional located in Charlottesville, VA. Recently promoted to Director of HR for Tiger Fuel Company with previous experience as a HR Manager and Generalist. Most of her experience has been working to support c-stores, car washes, and home health agencies. While attending West Virginia University, Shaleena earned her Bachelor’s in Agribusiness Management and Rural Development alongside a minor in Equine Studies. She just recently earned her SHRM-SCP in 2022 further solidifying her place as a genuine human resource professional. Currently she is an active member of the SHRM Charlottesville Chapter serving on the Virginia State SHRM Annual Conference Committee. Shaleena personally prides herself in having resiliency and spreading the essence of positivity both at work and in her personal life.

In her time outside of Tiger Shaleena spends much of her time with her family. Not only her human family but her furry one too. She has a horse named Cricket, two collies named Joey and JJ, and one cat Penny. Shaleena was on her college equestrian team and to this day still very involved in the equestrian community including serving as the Secretary of the Charlottesville Chapter of the Virginia Dressage Association.

Parkland USA is parent company to several gas & fuel distribution companies as well as convenience store brands. Our internal retail brand, On the Run, is a growing footprint across the US. With over 200 retail locations, 40 wholesale branches, and 600 trucks, Parkland USA serves customers and communities in 26 states.

I have been with Parkland USA for 7.5 years. I live and work in Minot, ND, supporting the Farstad Oil, Superpumper, Red Carpet, and On the Run brands in my area. Throughout my tenure with Parkland USA, I have worked to help transform our US footprint from 400 to 3000 employees. During this time, I have had the privilege to help shape and grow the HR function for US. Some of my duties include providing critical HR data to make key decisions, benefits administration for our US population, and managing an operating area of roughly 900 employees. My work over this time has helped elevate and shape the benefits platform for the US, all while creating a strong local culture in my area of operation. I have also earned my SHRM-CP certification.

In my free time, I enjoy gardening in the summer and knitting all year round. I have one child who is a freshman in high school and keeps me running to all her theater and orchestra events throughout the school year. I also have 3 cats and one dog.

KC Claussen is responsible for partnering with leaders to manage the HR-side of mergers and acquisitions for Casey’s. In between M&A deals, she works on HR special projects including recently introducing an Earned Wage Access benefit to Casey’s and identifying a video interviewing vendor for centralized hiring markets.

A majority of her career has been spent in the convenience industry with Casey’s, but she’s also worked in the healthcare industry and consulted with non-profits, small businesses, and municipalities. KC obtained her Master’s degree in Public Administration with an emphasis in Human Resources and BS degrees in Business Management and Psychology from Drake University. She’s also received her PHR, SHRM-CP and PMP certifications.

Outside of Casey’s, she serves on a non-profit board, is a foster home for a local animal rescue league, enjoys time with her two lovable pets – Monté and Snowpants, and finding new opportunities for travel adventures.

Jenna Collard is responsible for educational programming at NACS to include NACS Show Education Sessions, Executive Education, and other educational programming such as HR Forum, Leadership Forum, and industry webinars.

Prior to joining NACS in 2017, Jenna worked as a corporate trainer for a Washington DC based real estate information company for several years. She earned a BA in Sociology & American Studies from University of Maryland and an M.Ed. in Adult Education and Training from Colorado State University.

In her spare time Jenna loves to come up with new adventures to take her daughters on, travel to take with friends, and run.

Kristen Gage joined Murphy USA in 2013 and currently leads the Talent Acquisition team. She is responsible for the development and execution of TA strategies for Murphy USA and QuickChek. Kristen has previously worked in Employee Relations, Talent Management and Brand Communication. She is passionate about driving new and innovative solutions that emphasize company culture and help share their talent brand.

Kristen holds a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Media and Communication from Henderson State University and is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Communication from Purdue University. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family and friends—especially traveling with her husband and two children.

John Georgiou joined the Parker’s companies in 2022 and currently leads the Human Resources team. John is a strategic HR leader who is passionate about transformation, connecting talent to business results and driving change initiatives to support the company’s strategic growth across coastal Georgia and South Carolina. John brings 30 years of management experience leading and developing teams and more than a decade of leadership experience in the convenience store industry.

He previously worked as Director of HR, Senior Manager of Corporate Efficiencies & Quality Assurance, and District Leader at QuickChek in New Jersey. Earlier in his career, he worked as a District Sales Manager for Tasty Baking Company in Penn, George Weston Bakeries in NY and Frito-Lay, Inc. in NJ. John is a member of the National Association of Convenience Stores and the Society for Human Resource Management, Georgiou has earned Senior Professional certifications in Human Resources from HRCI (SPHR) and SHRM (SHRM-SCP).

Originally from New Jersey, John earned his M.B.A. in Project Management from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Penn.; a M.S. in Human Resource Development from Villanova University in Philadelphia, Penn.; and a B.S. in Marketing from Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J. John and his wife have lived in Pennsylvania for the past last 20 years and recently located to Richmond Hill, Ga. An area he says is loaded with great people, great weather and palm trees.

Jayme Gough is the Research Manager for the NACS Research Department. She joined NACS in June of 2017 after having worked for the Alexandria City Public Schools for several years. In addition to administering the NACS State of the Industry Compensation survey and analyzing data for the annual SOI Compensation Report, she manages the NACS category definitions and assists with the State of the Industry enterprise and consumer insights portfolio. She has a passion for helping businesses achieve success using data-drive strategies. Jayme holds a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from Bates College and is a certified project manager.

Kwik Trip is a family-owned company founded in 1965. Kwik Trip operates 800+ stores and employs 36,000 coworkers in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Michigan, and Illinois. The stores receive daily deliveries of fresh baked goods, dairy products, soups, salads, fruit, produce, sandwiches and sell grocery products, general merchandise, gasoline, and related petroleum products. The company is vertically integrated operating its own bakery, dairy, bottling line, kitchens, food safety lab, distribution center, ice plant, LP plant, blow mold facility, transportation company, health clinics, and kids learning center. Kwik Trip serves over 10 million guests per week and consistently ranks as a Top Workplace in each of its markets.

I joined the Kwik Trip family in December of 1999 while attending college at the University of Wisconsin La Crosse. Upon graduating with a Business Administration degree in May of 2000, I was offered a full-time position within the Human Resources department as a Payroll Assistant. Throughout the years I continued to grow in my knowledge of Payroll and received different promotions. In March of 2015, I was given the opportunity to be a Payroll Supervisor and then worked towards my goal of becoming a Certified Payroll Professional in April of 2016. Throughout my 23 years at Kwik Trip, I have gone through multiple system upgrades, complete system replacements, system outages, audits, and rollouts of new products and features. This has brought on many challenges and a lot of learning opportunities. I have gained so much experience and perspective with every challenge and opportunity that presented itself over the years. And I am very grateful to work for a company that promotes innovation, growth, and change to support our growing team of coworkers.

When I am not at work, I enjoy traveling with my son who is now 18. We have had many exciting adventures over the years, most of them through Disney Cruise Line. Looking forward to our biggest one yet this summer – a European Cruise to celebrate his graduation from high school.

Julie joined Casey's in 1994 as Legal Counsel as its first employment law counsel. She became Vice President of Human Resources/Legal Counsel in 2003 with oversight, in part, of the departments of Human Resources, Payroll, and the Child Development Center. In 2010, Julie was promoted to Senior Vice President, Corporate General Counsel and Human Resources. In August of 2015, her area of focus changed slightly to align with her last position of Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary where she oversaw the Company’s legal, compliance, regulatory and risk areas housed primarily in the departments under her direct supervision of Legal, Enterprise Risk Management, Risk Management (including Worker’s Compensation, Security and Food Safety), and the Project Management Office. She also served as the Company’s secretary with oversight of SEC compliance and coordination of Board matters. Julie served on the NACS Board of Directors for many years culminating with the position of Chairman from 2020-2021.

Before joining Casey's, Julie was an attorney for Shearer, Templer, Pingel &Kaplan. Julie has been active in a number of organizations including the Association of Corporate Counsel (Iowa Chapter), Iowa State Bar Association (past chair of the Corporate Counsel Section), Drake University Law School Board of Counselors and Delta Theta Phi International Law Fraternity, where she served four years as its president. She currently serves on the non-profit Boards for the Wildwood Hills Ranch of Iowa, the James Arthur Albert Foundation, and the Affiliated House Corporation of Gama Phi Beta at Iowa State University. She is also a board member of SuckerPunch Gourmet LLC.

Julie earned a J.D. from Drake University Law School and a B.A. in political science from Iowa State University. She and her husband Tom are the parents of four children and 1 granddaughter.

About Casey’s: Headquartered in Ankeny, Iowa, Casey’s General Stores, Inc. operates more than 2,400 convenience stores in 16 Midwestern states. Casey’s offers self-service fuel, a wide selection of grocery items and an array of freshly prepared food items. Among the most popular of Casey’s prepared food are its made-from-scratch pizzas, donuts, subs and sandwiches. Casey’s operates from three company distribution centers, enabling an approximate delivery of 90% of in-store products as well as 55% of fuel.

Patrick Loftus leads NACS survey research and insight-driven report initiatives. Patrick produces whitepapers and data visualizations intended to arm convenience retailers and supplier organizations with perspective on the industry. His past research has focused on topics ranging from last mile fulfillment to how technology builds retailer success to improving the employee experience. Patrick also contributes to the NACS State of the Industry Benchmarking Summit & report. In his free time Patrick runs road marathons, trail 50k races, and enjoys ceramics and visits to art museums.

The Parker’s name is synonymous with fuel, fancy snacks, chewy ice and charitable giving. Olivia Parker — daughter of Parker’s founder and CEO, Greg Parker — is focused on the latter. After pursuing a career in New York City, she decided to move home in 2020 and work for her family business. She started as a store recruiter in March of 2020, during the onset of the Coronavirus Pandemic. After a year of recruiting for 24 stores across Georgia and South Carolina, she took on Corporate recruiting.

She then was promoted to Community Outreach Manager. Olivia is responsible for planning and implementing programs that support our charity partners and involve our associates, in giving back to our community. She is responsible for managing incoming requests, handling logistics of existing programs, and growing engagement among our associate population. In this role Olivia represents Parker’s in our Community Outreach engagements and provides support for all public community outreach events involving the Parker’s Community Fund and Parker’s Kitchen. So far, she has established a partnership with the Red Cross Blood Mobile to host monthly blood drives, launched the Round Up for Charity campaign and much more.

Giving back is part of Parker’s Kitchen and Olivia’s DNA. Since 2011 Parker’s has given back more than 11 million dollars to the communities within their corporate footprint. Founded in 2020, the Parker’s Community Fund was created by a generous donation from Greg Parker and Parker’s to give back to the communities that have supported Parker’s and its subsidiaries for the past 45 years. To achieve that goal, the Parker’s Community Fund has identified four areas of focus: Education, Healthcare, Hero’s, and Hunger. The fund has now grown to $24 million, with hopes of growing it to $100 million in the near future.

Robert Rojas advises and represents employers in all areas of employment law, with a focus on defending lawsuits brought under state and federal law, including claims involving discrimination, harassment and retaliation. Robert also counsels employers on workplace issues and has conducted policy reviews, drafted handbooks and conducted workplace investigations. During law school, Robert served as research editor on the Washburn Law Journal, was a member of the Moot Court Council, and interned for the Hon. Carlos Murguia in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas.

Kevin Paul Scott has traveled to six continents and spoken to leaders from more than 100 countries. Kevin co-founded the leadership consultancy ADDO, which is Latin for "Inspire." For consecutive years, ADDO was the #1 Small business on the Best Places to Work list in Atlanta. ADDO developed the national Chick-fil-A Leader Academy program, the Baltimore Ravens Leadership Institute, and helps companies attract and develop top talent. Kevin is the author of three books, including his latest The Lens. Kevin is a frequent guest on numerous media outlets, including Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC. www.KevinPaulScott.com