By John Lofstock, Editor
Following the retirement of its long-time Chief Customer Officer Jeff Leedy, Rutter’s Farm Stores has hired industry veteran Derek Gaskins as chief engagement officer, CSD has learned.
Gaskins has an extensive background in marketing for both retail and consumer packaged goods companies, and spent two years as the vice president of marketing at NACS.
Prior to joining Rutter’s, Gaskins served as the senior vice president of marketing and merchandising at Mid-Atlantic Convenience Stores (MACS), one of the largest convenience store networks and fuel distributors in the mid-Atlantic region.
Headquartered in Richmond, MACS is currently comprised of approximately 300 company-owned and dealer-operated retail locations throughout Virginia and Maryland.
Before joining MACS, Gaskins was the vice president of marketing for NACS where he oversaw brand development and integration, social network campaign execution, channel analytics and served as a liaison between manufacturers and retailers.
Gaskins also served as the director of marketing for Giant Eagle Inc., the Pittsburgh, Penn.-based company that operates more than 220 Giant Eagle grocery stores and 130 GetGo convenience stores. In this position, Gaskins directed all of the marketing activities for several key lines of business within the company, including all marketing support for GetGo.
Prior to joining Giant Eagle in 2002, Gaskins was an assistant brand manager at Procter & Gamble where he led cross-functional teams in support of several product lines. He also served as an account representative for Nabisco Foods Inc.
Gaskins earned an M.B.A. from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, and a B.B.A. in marketing from the University of Iowa.