NACS IDEA Conference

Michelle Duguid will present and moderate the NACS IDEA Conference.

She is Associate Dean of Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging and an associate professor of management and organizations at the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University.

Professor Duguid’s primary area of research investigates the interplay of social status, power, politics, influence, and diversity in organizations, with a particular focus on the effect of social status, power, and group relations on perceptions and interactions. Her research also examines individual and group processes that affect creativity and the quality of decision-making.

Treasa Bowers was the first-ever Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer for 7-Eleven, Inc., she served as a change agent and subject matter expert overseeing the advancement of 7-Eleven’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) program. In her role, Bowers connected 7-Eleven’s DE&I strategy to business objectives with a special focus on leadership growth, cultural awareness and talent management. Following 7-Eleven’s acquisition of Speedway, she assumed the role of Vice President Human Resources and Women’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging. A 31-year veteran of the company, Bowers is passionate about cultivating a diverse, inclusive and equitable culture throughout 7-Eleven’s workplaces, corporate stores and franchise locations.

James Colino has been building and optimizing recruiting functions around the world for over 20 years. As the Head of Talent Acquisition for Sheetz, Inc., James oversees recruiting for over 600 stores and all support functions across a six-state footprint. Prior to joining Sheetz, James led talent acquisition in North America and Asia for The Hershey Company, managed the Global Technology Enablement function at Cielo, and served as the Founder and CEO of HireBar Inc., an interview software company that was acquired in 2017.

As President GetGo Café + Market, Polly Flinn leads the 265-store food-first convenience retail chain of Giant Eagle, Inc., one of the nation’s largest multi-format food, fuel, convenience and pharmacy retailers. The Giant Eagle Enterprise encompasses over 425 stores and 35,000 team members and is listed on Forbes magazine’s largest private corporations list. It operates throughout western Pennsylvania, Ohio, north central West Virginia, western Maryland and Indiana. Polly has worked on a national and global scale leading multi-functional teams in multi-format and multi-channel businesses building major brands like Walmart, BP, Giant Eagle, Arco ampm, and Castrol. Her experience spans multiple consumer shopping occasions from convenience to big box as well as strategic sales customer relationships with large scale OEMs such as Ford and BMW.

Shelly S. Gibson is Chief Legal & People Officer for Thorntons LLC, which operates over 200 gasoline and convenience stores and travel plazas in six states with its own fuel transportation and bakery subsidiaries. She has been in the Chief Legal Officer role since January 2014, having spent the prior six years as Associate General Counsel at Thorntons. In April 2019, Ms. Gibson was given the added role of overseeing Human Resources, with the additional title of Chief People Officer -- blending her legal expertise, business knowledge, and care and concern for her fellow team members to help make Thorntons a favorite place to work.

She currently serves as Executive Vice President and is on the board of directors for Champ Cares, a team member assistance fund at Thorntons. She also serves on the board of directors for the Kentucky Retail Federation and the Center for Women & Families, a sexual assault crisis and domestic violence center that serves victims and survivors in the greater Louisville area and Southern Indiana.

Seth Kamen serves as the Vice President of Talent Management for EG America, a chain of over 1700 convenience stores and quick serve restaurant locations in 31 US states. He joined Cumberland Farms in June of 2019, which became part of the EG America family in October of that year. Seth leads Talent Acquisition, Training, Leadership Development, Succession Planning and Team Member Engagement. Prior to this Seth served in a variety of Talent Management roles at CVS Health and before that he spent 12 years in HR consulting for US and international companies across verticals.

Jamie Landis joined Pilot Company in June of this year as the Sr. Director of HR Strategy and Operations. In addition to driving overall HR Strategy, Jamie leads the HR Technology, People Analytics, and Shared Services functions in the pursuit of a better Team Member experience.

Prior to Pilot Company, Jamie served as VP of HR, Total Rewards and Organizational Effectiveness for Delaware North where she oversaw Compensation, Benefits, D&I, Internal Communications, and Employee Relations. She has also served as the Director of Total Rewards & HR Operations for Hard Rock Hotel & Casinos and has held various HR leadership roles with Dick’s Sporting Goods.

Jamie earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Southern New Hampshire University, a Master of Business Administration from the University of Illinois, and has completed the Cornell University ILR School Strategic HR Leadership program. She is an active member of the WNY Women’s Foundation and a regular HR consultant volunteer for various nonprofits.

Daillard Paris is the Director of Petroleum Supply & Trading at Sheetz, Inc. with over 600 stores and 20,000 employees and a footprint extending through Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and Ohio. After finishing his enlistment in the Marine Corps he entered into the Oil & Gas industry—he has over 15 years of experience in this field, with nine of those years at Sheetz. He currently serves as the Initiative Leader as Sheetz launches a corporate I.D.E.A. Initiative. He sits on the board of the Blair County NAACP Chapter and Special Olympics of Pennsylvania and has been actively involved with the Big Brothers & Big Sisters organization for over 10 years.

In October 2020, Heather Schott joined the Krause Group to build a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion program across all of their organizations, including Kum & Go. Heather has a brand and leadership style founded in problem solving, influence, innovation and disruption. Over her career, she has held a variety of roles in IT, HR and actuarial functions, which allowed her to partner across business units and disciplines and test out equity and inclusion practices while supporting product development, accounting, actuarial, operational functions and data management practices. Heather received a B.S. in Mathematics and in Business with an emphasis on management from Morningside College, and completed a certification in DEI with The Conference Board. She currently serves as a Human Rights Commissioner for West Des Moines.

Paul Shore serves Pilot Company as chief people officer. He oversees the People initiatives to include global talent acquisition, talent development, total rewards, team member engagement and retention efforts to meet company goals and initiatives. Prior to joining the company in 2016, Paul served as the vice president of human resources for Bass Pro Shops in Springfield, Missouri, where he led the HR functions for all Bass Pro Shops businesses (retail, manufacturing and hospitality). Prior to Bass Pro Shops, he spent 28 years in retail with Saks Incorporated, the parent company of Saks Fifth Avenue, Saks Department Store Group and Saks Off Fifth, as senior vice president of human resources. Since joining Pilot Company as the vice president of talent acquisition, Paul has played a key role working with senior leadership and hiring managers to develop and implement strategies to attract the best talent in the industry.

Nan Thomae joined Casey’s General Stores in June 2020 as the Vice President of HR Field Operations. Her team of HR business partners, generalists, recruiters and trainers leads the Casey’s “People and Culture” strategy for the Stores, Supply Chain, Fuel and Operations Excellence functions through effective talent acquisition, talent management and team member engagement and retention initiatives. Prior to joining Casey’s, she had the privilege of spending 5 years with Tractor Supply Company as the HR Director for their Store Support Center, supporting the Merchandising, Marketing, Supply Chain, Loss Prevention and Store Administration leadership teams. She has built an extensive HR leadership career in the retail industry with previous roles in two Midwest-based department store chains, Shopko and Marshall Field’s.

Sandy Tierney serves as Chief Human Resources Officer for EG America, which operates over 1,700 locations within 31 states in the US. She oversees the HR function and strategy, all people initiatives, and communication. She is passionate about fostering a people centric culture and is proud to work for an organization that supports a servant leader philosophy. Prior to joining the organization, Sandy worked exclusively for retail organizations, having served in various roles within Human Resources for Talbots, J. Jill, City Sports, and Child World.