NACS Human Resources Forum

Joanne M. Loce, president of Loce Consulting LLC, is an executive coach, consultant and speaker on topics related to strategic human resources, organization and leadership development, culture, change management, and talent management. She brings over 20 years of experience partnering with business leaders to create Human Resources strategy and delivering people related processes that contribute to the bottom line in a variety of industries, including financial services, automotive, pharmaceuticals, consumer products, insurance, chemicals, non-profit, and public agencies and education. Her current coaching and consulting clients include Fortune 500 companies in various industries, state government, and leaders in small to mid-sized firms.

Ms. Loce served as a Program Director for The Conference Board, leading ten industry conferences on talent management, performance management, and the development of emerging leaders. Her most recent corporate role was the Vice President of Talent Management and Organizational Development for Genworth Financial. Ms. Loce was responsible for leading talent management strategies and processes, recruiting, succession planning, and leadership development across global Genworth. Prior to joining Genworth Financial, Ms. Loce worked for Capital One Financial, General Motors, and the Federal Reserve System where she held a variety of roles in which she coached and consulted with senior executive leadership, provided Human Resources strategy and support for her clients, and led enterprise-wide talent management, leadership development, and cross-functional change efforts.

Joanne is a speaker and consultant on topics such as Integrating Succession Planning with Business Cycles, Change Management, Culture Transformation, Leadership Development, Organizational Capabilities, Building Effective Teams, and Talent Management. She is a former member of The Conference Board Talent Management Executives Council and has been an expert panelist for topics related to maximizing the full potential of the workforce for companies, professional associations, colleges and universities. She is currently an adjunct faculty member with the Community College Workforce Alliance.

Ms. Loce holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Providence College, an MBA/MILR from Cornell University, and a Leadership Coaching Certificate from Georgetown University. She resides in Mechanicsville, Virginia.

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.

Stacey Ferreira is the CEO of Forge, a talent sharing network that empowers businesses to offer more hours and flexibility to their hourly employees, and co-¬author of 2 Billion Under 20: How Millennials Are Breaking Down Age Barriers & Changing the World. Previously, Stacey was the co--founder of MySocialCloud, an SSO company whose investors include Sir Richard Branson, Jerry Murdock, and Alex Welch. In 2013, she and her brother (and co-¬founder) sold MySocialCloud to Reputation.com.

Ferreira has received recognition for her entrepreneurial achievements in addition to her other accomplishments at a young age, including being a US State Department Speaker on Entrepreneurship and being one of twenty Thiel Fellows selected for the 2015 Thiel Fellowship.

Ferreira has been featured on and contributed to several news outlets, including the cover of Seventeen Magazine, The Huffington Post, Women 2.0, Business Insider, TechCrunch, and Forbes. She has spoken at popular technology conferences, including TEDxYouthSanDiego and GRAMMY Media Week, and she has been a guest contributor to Women 2.0 and Forbes.

Jeff Lenard oversees NACS’ industry-wide campaigns to enhance the image of the convenience and fuel retailing industry, particularly the association’s new reFresh initiative. In this role, he develops resources and toolkits, explores new partnerships with like-minded organizations and shares success stories with the industry and media. Lenard also serves as lead spokesperson and has conducted more than 5,000 media interviews about trends and innovations at the nation’s 154,000-plus convenience stores. In addition, Lenard is the creator and co-host of the association’s popular weekly podcast, “Convenience Matters.”

Prior to joining NACS in 1999, Lenard served in communications and marketing functions for several energy-focused associations. He earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and an M.B.A. in marketing from Syracuse University.