NACS Leadership Forum

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.

Bill Chidley is Executive Director of Strategy at award-winning experience agency ChangeUp. His broad experience includes helping Fortune 100 clients succeed as both a strategy and design leader. Bill has worked with clients including Honda, SHEETZ, Dunkin’, Home Depot, and P&G, to develop new retail concepts and integrate new digital and mobile experiences, using insights-driven strategy and creativity.

Jamie Cornelius is the Executive Creative Director at award-winning experience agency, ChangeUp. Innovating across categories, she is the creative force behind many of today’s most successful brands, including P&G, Panera, SHEETZ, and Target. Jamie is passionate about working with her multi-disciplinary team to create consumer experiences that delight, inspire, and raise the bar.

Sterling Hawkins is out to break the status quo to create what’s actually possible for people and companies in our time. He has spent his life coming back from the brink to sell companies, finish ultra-marathons and getting results #NoMatterWhat it takes.

Sterling is an internationally-recognized thought leader and has given a TED talk with over 55,000 views on the topic of discomfort being necessary for innovation. He is a top-rated keynote speaker on the #NoMatterWhat approach to driving growth innovation and results, regardless of what’s happening in the world. His keynotes share meaningful strategies delivered with the inspiration to leave attendees in action.

His journey has been non-traditional right from the beginning. Sterling grew up a 5th generation retailer, having to master the intersection of technology and extreme competition. In 2004, Sterling co-founded, launched and sold his first technology company, Convena, where he developed innovative approaches to beat competition, handle high-growth and achieve performance no matter the obstacles.

He went on to be involved with the launch, growth and/or investment in over 50 companies. Today, Sterling reviews over 1,000 new companies every year further refining the keys to realizing breakthrough results regardless of circumstances and giving back that experience as a mentor to high-growth entrepreneurs working through heavy competition and instability in the world. He is the co-founder of CART, a platform to drive adoption of emerging technologies at Fortune 500 companies. And he speaks and runs workshops around the world for clients such as Samsung, Criteo, Synchrony Financial and the United Nations. Sterling is a certified yoga teacher and adventure seeker regularly pushing his own boundaries of what’s possible by skydiving, century bike riding, shark diving, and even trekking in the Sahara. He brings that energy of maximizing human potential and breaking past limiting beliefs to everything he does. Currently living in Colorado, he has been seen in Inc. Magazine, Fast Company, The New York Times and Forbes.

Sterling is inspiring a network of #NoMatterWhat leaders, entrepreneurs, investors and Fortune 500 companies, actively shaping the future for the betterment of business, communities and the human condition. Of course, he’s still regularly found on adventures.

Andrea “Andi” Huels leads Lenovo’s AI business in North America. A global go-to-market executive with expertise in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analytics, Andi helps F500 companies drive agility and re-invent their operations with AI. Her passion for evangelizing AI solutions inspires executives in retail, restaurants, CPG, supply chain, and manufacturing to think differently about how they can harness the power of artificial intelligence to make smarter decisions, increase operational efficiency, and enhance customer experience. A deep understanding of AI use cases, combined with her ability to cultivate technology ecosystems, enables Andi to become a trusted advisor to CXOs.

Andi was recently included in engatica’s “50 Most Powerful Women in Technology in 2023” and recognized as a member of the “Women Leaders of Conversational AI, Class of 2023.”

Prior to Lenovo, Andi served as NA Director of Business Development at Dematic, where she was instrumental in building the technology ecosystem necessary to deploy intelligent supply chain transformation for retailers, wholesalers, and manufacturers. Her background includes two decades of global strategy, growth, and innovation leadership roles with General Electric, ExxonMobil, Crane, Imerys, Omron, and General Mills.

Andi earned a BS in Management with honors from Indiana University and holds a Certificate in AI and Business Strategy from MIT. An avid cyclist, she resides in Atlanta, Georgia with her four children and their English Mastiff, Penelope.

Jeff Lenard oversees NACS’ industry-wide external communications campaigns to advance the role of convenience stores as positive economic, social and philanthropic contributors to the communities they serve. Lenard also serves as lead spokesperson and has conducted more than 6,000 media interviews about trends and innovations at the nation’s 148,000-plus convenience stores. In addition, he is the creator and host of the association’s award-winning weekly podcast, “Convenience Matters,” and oversees the long-running video series “Ideas 2 Go.”

Chris McCarrick is the Asset Protection Solutions & Technology Senior Manager for the Kroger Company, located in Cincinnati, Ohio. A 30-year veteran of Asset Protection/Loss Prevention, he is responsible for identifying and piloting new technologies/solutions that help increase safety and mitigate shrink. Prior to joining Kroger 5 years ago, Chris held various leadership roles with Southeastern Grocers, Harris Teeter, Polo Ralph Lauren and The Home Depot. Chris holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminal Justice from Appalachian State University and holds the Certified Forensic Interview (CFI) designation.

Elizabeth Pierce is President of Applegreen’s USA Travel Plaza operations. Ms. Pierce is responsible for the day to day operation of 112 locations including more than 200 branded food offers, 40 convenience stores and circa. 4,000 staff.

In her previous role Elizabeth was responsible for Applegreen USA’s Gas Filling Station business comprising 165 locations including 134 forecourts, 142 convenience stores, 60 branded food offers and circa. 2,000 staff.

Since relocating to the USA from Ireland in 2017 Ms. Pierce has also been instrumental in the operational integration of six multi-location acquisitions. These integrations included operations, finance, HR, IT, facilities and systems as well as a cultural integration of the acquired businesses into the existing Applegreen business. A natural leader, Elizabeth has successfully navigated the business through multiple crises including COVID-19 and Hurricane Michael.

Prior to moving to the USA, Elizabeth spent nine years with Applegreen in Dublin, Ireland, where she worked in various finance roles but most recently as its Group Financial Controller. Before joining Applegreen Elizabeth spent 4 years in PWC Dublin.

Ms. Pierce received an honours B.A. in Business and Legal Studies from University College Dublin, an honours M.A in Accounting from the Smurfit School of Business Dublin and is a Chartered Accountant with the Institute of Chartered Accountants Ireland. She also attended NACS executive leadership courses in Yale and Cornell.

Elizabeth is married to Martin and they have two sons Dylan and Luca. During her spare time, she loves to travel, scuba dive, ski, support her husband and son in motorsport and be a soccer Mom!

Darren Rebelez is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Casey’s, a FORTUNE 500 company operating over 2,400 convenience stores throughout the Midwest and South. As CEO of the third largest convenience retailer and fifth largest pizza chain, Rebelez offers a wealth of experience from his career as a senior executive in the convenience, restaurant and fuel industries.

Prior to Casey’s, Rebelez served as the President of IHOP Restaurants, a unit of Dine Brands Global, Inc., which franchises and operates restaurants under the Applebee’s Grill & Bar and IHOP brands. He worked at 7-Eleven as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Before 7-Eleven, Darren held numerous leadership roles within ExxonMobil, and before that, at Thornton Oil Corporation. 

Preceding his civilian career, Darren was an Army Ranger and Gulf War veteran.  A native of San Diego, he is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Foreign Area Studies.  He went on to also earn an MBA from the University of Houston.

In addition to his role at Casey’s, Darren serves on the board of directors of Globe Life Inc. (NYSE: GL), and as an advisory board member for the Children of Fallen Patriots Foundation.

David Schonthal is an award-winning Clinical Professor and Director of Entrepreneurship Programs at the Kellogg School of Management where he teaches courses on new venture creation, design thinking, healthcare innovation and creativity. In addition to his teaching, he also serves as the Faculty Director of Kellogg's Zell Fellows Program, a selective venture accelerator program designed to help student entrepreneurs successfully launch or acquire new businesses. David is also co-author with fellow Kellogg professor Loran Nordgren, of The Human Element (Wiley, 2021), a book about overcoming people's resistance to innovation and change.

Outside of Kellogg, David has been a practitioner of entrepreneurship, design, and innovation for over 20 years. He has spent a decade working at world-renowned design firm, IDEO, and currently serves as an Operating Partner at 7Wire Ventures, a healthcare technology-focused venture capital firm. David is a Global Advisor at Design for Ventures (D4V), a Tokyo-based early-stage venture capital fund that invests in design-led Japanese startups and is the Co-Founder of MATTER, a 25,000-square-foot innovation center in downtown Chicago focused on catalyzing and supporting healthcare entrepreneurship.

David lives just outside of Chicago with his wife Erin, and kids Annie and Teddy. As much as David would like to think he’s one-of-a-kind…he’s actually a triplet.

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

Eric Slifka was elected President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director of Global GP LLC, the general partner of Global Partners LP, in March 2005 and became Vice-Chairman in March 2014. He is responsible for listing the company on the NYSE in October of 2005. Through his leadership, the Partnership invested approximately $2.4 billion through acquisitions and other investments, increased EBITDA seven-fold, and distributed nearly $1 billion to its common and preferred unitholders. Eric has provided the vision to transform the company into a powerful vertically integrated network of energy supply, distribution, and retail assets in New England and the mid-Atlantic.

Today Global has 24 energy terminals and 1,700 retail locations to support its acquisition and consolidation strategy.

Global has embraced the energy transition and is making the world a little bit better by deploying renewable fuels, electric innovation, and sustainability across its network while advocating for policy that speeds the adoption of clean fuels. As a retailer, Global is expanding Alltown Fresh®, Eric’s personal vision for a retail market that provides fresh locally sourced chef driven food and thoughtfully curated goods to local communities and people on the go.

Eric has been employed with Global since 1987. From 1998 to 2004 the Company was 50% owned by Repsol/YPF and Eric was Chief Operating Officer. Before 1998, Eric held various senior positions in the accounting, supply, distribution, and marketing departments. His first job with Global was painting tanks at the Revere Terminal.

He is a member of the National Petroleum Council and serves on the board of directors of the Energy Policy Research Foundation, Inc., and the Massachusetts General Hospital President’s Council. Eric is the son of the late Alfred Slifka and the nephew of Richard Slifka.

Susan Sly is the Co-CEO and cofounder of RadiusAI (RAI), an award-winning visual intelligence company specializing in the retail and healthcare sectors. RAI is currently implementing its smart retail solution at the edge for a national retailer with 1,000 locations.

RAI has been named one of the fastest growing startups in Phoenix three years in a row and won VentureBeat’s AI Innovation at the Edge Award in 2022, beating out several highly acclaimed technology companies.

Prior to co-founding RAI, Susan led channel sales teams in three sectors generating over $2 billion in revenue. As a sought after entrepreneurial thought leader, Susan has spoken for MIT, The Forbes School of Business, and shared the stage with Tony Robbins, Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, and many others. In her spare time, Susan is the host of the highly acclaimed podcast, Raw and Real Entrepreneurship, mom of five, wife, and tech investor. Susan has appeared on CNN, CNBC, Fox, ABC Family, and is a member of the prestigious Forbes Business Council.

Thomas N. Trkla is the founder of Yesway, Inc. and has served as Yesway, Inc.’s Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, President and as a member of Yesway’s board of directors since its formation. He is also the Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Brookwood Financial Partners, LLC, which he founded in May 1993. Tom directs all aspects of Yesway’s businesses, including managing operations, shaping and setting the company’s culture, values and principles, assembling and leading the senior management team, formulating and implementing investment and disposition strategies, and evaluating, structuring, and capitalizing the companies’ acquisitions. He is also Chairman of Brookwood’s and Yesway’s Executive and Investment Committees.

Mr. Trkla currently serves as an Advisory Committee member of the Massachusetts Campaign for Children, a non-profit statewide child advocacy organization, a Director of the Princeton Association of New England, a Director of the Foundation for Excellence in Higher Education, a Director of the Land Conservation Assistance Network (LandCAN), a member of the Advisory Council for the James Madison Society at Princeton University, and a member of the Urban Land Institute. In 2021, Mr. Trkla was named an Entrepreneur of The Year® 2021 Southwest Award winner by Ernst & Young LLP. Mr. Trkla holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University and a Master of Management degree from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. In 2004, he completed the Oxford Strategic Leadership Programme at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School.