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: [email protected] or (703) 518-4223.

Annie Gauthier is the Co-CEO at St. Romain Oil Company in Mansura, Louisiana. She is responsible for the company's finance and accounting, risk management, HR and strategic and culture development. A third-generation co-owner, she works with her 2 brothers, 2 uncles, 2 aunts, and 240 other team members to refuel & refresh the Louisiana communities where they operate.

She earned her BA in British history at LSU, discovered that law school was not for her and worked for the Louisiana Oil Marketers & Convenience Store Association (LOMCSA) for 3 years before joining the family business in 2005. She has served in various leadership roles with LOMCSA, culminating with President in 2017. Annie is also a founding member of Corporate Works of Mercy Foundation, a private 501(c)3 focused on loving neighbors by living the biblical corporal works of mercy. Her purpose is to chart tomorrow's course from yesterday's lessons. Married to her high school sweetheart and mother to 3 young children, she enjoys cooking, reading, traveling and planning trips (especially to Britain, Ireland and France).

Frank Gleeson became NACS president and CEO on January 1, 2026. He has deep experience in foodservice and convenience retailing. As president & CEO of Aramark Northern Europe from 2017–2024, he oversaw a team of over 20,000 employees across 2,800-plus locations in the United Kingdom, Ireland and EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa), which served an estimated 1 million meals a day. Before Aramark, Gleeson was retail director at Topaz Energy Group and vice president retail of Statoil Ireland (now Equinor), where he led the development of the first American-style convenience store in Ireland. Most recently, he served as chairman of the National Oil Reserve Agency in Ireland.

Gleeson was on the NACS Board of Directors for 11 years, including his term as 2018-19 NACS Chairman. In addition, he was a board member and chairman of Retail Ireland, a board member and president of the Irish Business and Employers Confederation and a board member of the Irish Transport Authority.

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.

Risa Mish is a professor of practice and the Day Family Senior Lecturer of Business Ethics at the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, part of the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business. She created and teaches the MBA and Executive MBA core courses in Critical and Strategic Thinking; created and taught the Cornell-Tsinghua FMBA core course in Critical and Strategic Thinking; has taught elective courses in leadership and influence; and was the founding faculty director of the Johnson Leadership Fellows program.

Mish is the inaugural recipient of the Provost Award for Teaching Excellence in Graduate and Professional Degree Programs at Cornell University created to "recognize excellence in teaching among faculty who teach primarily at the professional school and/or graduate program level". She has also received the MBA and Accelerated MBA Core Faculty Teaching Awards, selected by classes to honor the teacher who "best fosters learning through lecture, discussion and course work in the required core curriculum"; the Apple Award for Teaching Excellence, selected by the MBA graduating class to honor a faculty member who "exemplifies outstanding leadership and enduring educational influence"; the Best Teacher Award, selected by the graduating class of the Cornell-Tsinghua dual degree MBA/FMBA program offered by the Johnson School and the PBC School of Finance at Tsinghua University to recognize "a faculty member whose teaching was the best in the classroom"; the Stephen Russell Distinguished Teaching Award, selected by the five-year MBA reunion class to honor a faculty member whose "teaching and example have continued to influence graduates five years into their post-MBA careers"; the Globe Award for Teaching Excellence, selected by the Executive MBA graduating class to honor a faculty member who "demonstrates a command of subject matter and also possesses the creativity, dedication, and enthusiasm essential to meet the unique challenges of an EMBA education"; and the Star Award for Teaching Excellence, selected by the Executive MBA Americas graduating class to honor the faculty member whose "exceptional performance made the most significant contribution to the student learning experience".

Mish serves as a keynote speaker and workshop leader at global, national, and regional conferences for corporations and trade associations in the consumer products, financial services, health care, high tech, media, and manufacturing industries, on a variety of topics, including critical thinking and problem solving, persuasion and influence, and motivating optimal employee performance.

Before returning to Cornell, Mish was a partner in the NYC law firm of Collazo Carling & Mish LLP (CC&M), where she represented management clients on a wide range of labor and employment law matters, including defense of employment discrimination claims in federal and state courts and administrative agencies, and in labor arbitrations and negotiations under collective bargaining agreements. Prior to CC&M, Mish was a labor and employment law associate with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in NYC, where she represented Fortune 500 clients in the financial services, consumer products, and manufacturing industries. She is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court and state and federal courts in NY and MA.

Mish is a member of the board of directors of SmithBucklin Corporation, the world's largest trade association management company, headquartered in Chicago. She formerly served on the board of directors of TheraCare, Inc., headquartered in NYC, as a trustee of the Tompkins County Public Library, vice chair of the board of directors of the Community Foundation of Tompkins County, and member of the board of directors of the United Way of Tompkins County.

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.

Sarah Wolfolds is the Andrew Paul Sesquicentennial Faculty Fellow and assistant professor in the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management. Before joining Cornell in 2016, she received her doctorate in strategy from Harvard Business School and a bachelor's degree in economics and mathematics from Swarthmore College. Wolfolds has spent time working at both the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank and the Federal Reserve Board of Governors prior to attending graduate school.

Wolfolds' research examines the interaction between for-profit and nonprofit organizations in industries where they coexist. While nonprofits may want to differentiate themselves when faced with additional nonprofit competition, it is unclear whether they would want to differentiate themselves or converge towards for-profit competitors. Her research addresses this issue by considering the different financing models, human resource systems, and objectives of nonprofit organizations, as compared to for-profits, in the mixed industry of microfinance. Her recent research also examines issues surrounding financial exclusion in the United States.

Wolfolds was awarded a grant by the Strategic Research Foundation to further pursue her dissertation research.