NACS announced the election of its 2013-14 Executive Committee during its Board of Directors meeting at the NACS Show in Atlanta.
Brad Call, general counsel and executive vice president of adventure culture at Utah-based Maverik Inc., was named the association’s 2013-14 chairman of the board. Call also chairs the NACS Executive Committee, which provides strategic direction and financial oversight to the association.
Also named to the NACS Executive Committee were the following NACS retail members:
· NACS Vice Chairman-Treasurer: Steve Loehr, vice president of operations support at LaCrosse, Wisconsin-based Kwik Trip Inc.;
· NACS Vice Chairman of Government Relations and of NACSPAC: Peter Tedeschi, president and CEO at Rockland, Massachusetts-based Tedeschi Food Shops;
· NACS Vice Chairman of Convention: Jack Kofdarali, president at Corona, California-based J&T Management Inc.;
· NACS Vice Chairman of Research: Joseph Sheetz, president and CEO at Altoona, Pennsylvania-based Sheetz Inc.;
· NACS Vice Chairman of Member Services: Rahim Budhwani, CEO at Hoover, Alabama-based 6040 LLC;
· NACS Vice Chairman of International: Frank Gleeson, retail director at Dublin, Ireland-based Topaz Energy Group Limited; and
· NACS Vice Chairman: Tony Kenney, president, at Enon, Ohio-based Speedway LLC.
Also on the NACS Executive Committee are 2012-13 NACS Chairman Dave Carpenter, president and CEO at J.D. Carpenter Companies Inc. (Urbandale, Iowa), and 2011-12 NACS Chairman Tom Robinson, president of Robinson Oil Corp. (Santa Clara, Calif.).
The NACS Show, which ran through Oct. 15 at the Georgia World Congress Center, is ranked as the 47th largest trade show in the U.S. and is ranked fourth in the country for attracting attendees responsible for buying plans. More than 23,000 attendees from 60-plus countries were at the NACS Show, which features three days of general sessions, more than 50 educational sessions and 1,050 exhibiting companies in a 392,000 net-square-foot exposition. For the most up-to-date news and information on the event go to nacsshow.com.
Here are biographies of the newly elected NACS Executive Committee members:
Brad Call: NACS Chairman
Brad Call is a member of Maverik Inc.’s Board of Directors and serves Maverik as general counsel and executive vice president of adventure culture, which includes human resources, leadership development and recruiting, public relations and marketing.
Call has been a member of the NACS Board of Directors since 2008. Most recently, he served as the NACS vice chairman-treasurer, overseeing the association’s financial plan.
Maverik was founded in 1928 by Call’s grandfather, Reuel Call. Today, Maverik, whose moniker is “Adventure’s First Stop,” has more than 260 stores and is the largest independent chain of convenience stores in the inter-mountain west. The company was named Convenience Store Decisions’ 2013 Convenience Store Chain of the Year.
Prior to joining Maverik full time in 1998, Call was employed as corporate counsel and director of congressional affairs for Fluor Corporation in Washington, D.C.
Call is the host of a weekly travel show on Utah’s number-one rated radio station, KSL. He earned a B.S in accounting in 1990 from Brigham Young University and a J.D. in 1993 from the George Washington School of Law; Call served as Republican president at both institutions. He currently is a member of the NACS/Coca-Cola Retailing Research Council.
Steve Loehr: NACS Vice Chairman, Treasurer
Steve Loehr is vice president of operations support for Kwik Trip Inc., which operates more than 400 Kwik Trip and Kwik Star convenience stores throughout three states.
As the NACS treasurer, Loehr is responsible for overseeing the association’s financial plan. He has most recently served as NACS vice chairman of government relations.
A fourth-generation, family-owned business, Kwik Trip opened its first store in 1965 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. In addition to its corporate Support Center, which handles the administrative needs of stores, the company owns a bakery, commissary, dairy, distribution warehouse and vehicle maintenance divisions.
Prior to joining Kwik Trip 20 years ago, Loehr owned and operated a supermarket in the 1980s and worked for Gateway Foods of Pennsylvania, serving four years as its president. He is active in a number of industry groups, serving on the boards of the Wisconsin Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Store Association and Wisconsin Grocers Association, and is a member of the Society of Independent Gasoline Marketers of America (SIGMA). Loehr also is a board member of Merchants Bank, Martin Luther College, Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance and Western Technical College. He earned a B.S. in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
Peter Tedeschi: NACS Vice Chairman, Government Relations and NACSPAC
Peter Tedeschi is president & CEO of Tedeschi Food Shops, which operates 196 stores, various commercial real estate properties and the Tedeschi Fresh Foods Commissary.
As the NACS vice chairman of Government Relations and NACSPAC, Tedeschi oversees the association’s Legislative Committee and the efforts of NACSPAC, the convenience store industry’s political action committee.
Tedeschi is part of the third generation of the family-owned business that began in 1923 when his grandfather, Angelo Tedeschi, started selling imported Italian meats and cheeses from his home.
Prior to joining Tedeschi Food Shops as its president and COO in 2008, Tedeschi was an entrepreneurial pioneer in the computer industry before becoming an executive in Boston’s financial industry, where he was most recently senior vice president and director of operations for Putnam Investments.
Tedeschi currently serves on the South Shore Chamber’s Executive Board, as a Trustee for the South Shore Hospital Charitable Foundation and a member of STEP Education’s Advisory Board. He attended Stonehill College, where he graduated as the president of his senior class with a degree in political science.
Jack Kofdarali: NACS Vice Chairman, Convention
Jack Kofdarali is president of J&T Management Inc., which operates over 30 stations throughout California.
As the NACS vice chairman of convention, Kofdarali oversees the activities of the NACS Convention Committee, which oversees the development and implementation of NACS events, including the NACS Show, one of the 50 largest annual tradeshows in the United States. He most recently served as NACS vice chairman of member services.
Born in Beirut, Lebanon, Kofdarali came to the United States in 1980. He and his family’s first business was a liquor store in Newport Beach, California. In 1990, they purchased their first gas station in Calimesa, California. In 2000, Kofdarali became sole owner of J&R Oil Co. and continued to grow the business. J&R Oil Co. became J&T Management as the business diversified. In addition to building and operating convenience stores, the company also develops commercial retail centers throughout Southern California, owns and manages apartment units in Texas and provides business operations oversight for convenience and fuel retailers. Kofdarali also is currently vice chair for the BP Franchise Advisory Council.
Joseph Sheetz: NACS Vice Chairman, Research
Joseph Sheetz is president and CEO of Sheetz Inc., which operates 458 stores across six states.
As the NACS vice chairman of Research, Sheetz oversees the association’s Research Committee, which directs the association’s research and development initiatives and programs to promote the ongoing competitive viability of the channel.
Since 1952, Sheetz Inc. has grown from a small dairy/deli in Altoona to one of the fastest- growing, family-owned convenience stores in the world. Sheetz joined the company in 1995 as director of personnel and later served as executive vice president of finance and store development before being promoted to his current position in October 2013. He previously was a pension and benefit consultant for Consulting Group Inc. (CGI).
Sheetz is the former chairman and current trustee of Mount Aloysius College, former chairman and current executive committee member of the Altoona Blair County Development Corporation, and past president of the Blair County Chamber of Commerce. He earned a B.S. in economics from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.
Frank Gleeson: NACS Vice Chairman, International
Frank Gleeson is retail director at Topaz Energy Group Limited, Ireland’s largest fuel supplier with more than 340 locations across the Ireland. The company operates more than 120 company stores under the Topaz shop brand and has the largest terminal infrastructure in Ireland. It has also entered the aviation sector with a joint venture with Shell. Topaz has been voted a top 10 “Great place to work” in Ireland and Europe for the last number of years.
As the NACS vice chairman of international, Gleeson chairs the International Committee and directs the association’s global engagement.
Gleeson began his career in retail in Xtravision PLC (Blockbuster Inc.) as sales manager progressing on to operations director for O’Brien’s Off Licence Group. He later served as vice president of retail for Statoil. He has been retail director for Topaz Energy Group since 2005. Gleeson is a chairman of Retail Ireland, a National Council member of IBEC (Irish Business and Employers’ Confederation) and a director of R.R.A.I. Gleeson is also a member of the Irish Directors Institute and chairman of Parnell’s GAA club. He is a business graduate of the Irish Management Institute. He is a former chairman of the NACS/Coca-Cola Retailing Research Council.
Rahim Budhwani: NACS Vice Chairman, Member Services
Rahim Budhwani is president and CEO of 6040 LLC, which operates three stores in Alabama under the Monarch, Chevron, Shell and BP brands.
As the NACS vice chairman of member services, Budhwani oversees the association’s Member Services Committee, which sets the strategic direction for NACS with respect to retail membership value.
Budhwani serves on the Board of Directors of the Petroleum and Convenience Marketers of Alabama (P&CMA) and is serving as a Council Member of the Coca-Cola Retailing Research Council. He also sits on the Alabama Underground Trust Fund. He has also played a vital role in building the relationship between the National Alliance of Trade Associations (NATA) and NACS.
Budhwani earned a B.S. in information technology from the University of Pune and a degree in hotel management and food technology. He is currently getting his second B.S. degree in Aviation Business Administration.
Tony Kenney: NACS Vice Chairman
Tony Kenney is president of Speedway LLC (Speedway), which operates approximately 1,470 stores in nine states.
Kenney has more than 37 years of experience in the convenience retailing and fuels industries. In 2005, he was named president of Speedway, an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC). Speedway is the fourth largest company-owned and -operated convenience store chain in the nation.
Kenney has held numerous positions within Marathon Oil Corporation’s International and Domestic Exploration and Production Accounting organizations and in MPC’s Supply and Transportation and Business Development organizations. At Speedway, he previously served as commercial manager, controller, treasurer and vice president of finance and ITS. Kenney earned a B.S. in accounting from Miami University.
