C-store Veteran Joe Petrowski Says Yes to Yesway

DES MOINES, Iowa — Industry veteran Joseph Petrowski said “yes” to joining Yesway as its senior advisor and member of the company’s executive committee.

Des Moines-based Yesway is the convenience store brand name for BW Gas & Convenience, a division of Beverly, Mass.-based Brookwood Financial Partners LLC. Yesway plans to acquire, improve and rebrand 600-1,000 convenience stores in selected U.S. regions during the next few years.

Petrowski led the Cumberland Farms Gulf Oil Group from 2005-2013, a petroleum and retail convenience store holding company located in 29 states with more than 8,000 employees and $13 billion in annual revenues. In his new position at Yesway, he will report directly to Thomas Nicholas Trkla, Yesway’s chairman and CEO, and work closely with Brian Trout and Mark Daniels, Yesway’s senior operations executives, to help manage the company’s growth, improve operations and develop the firm’s business plan.

“I have believed for a long while the impetus for consolidation in the convenience and fuel retailing business creates major opportunities to generate great value in buying excellent assets, improving operations, developing economies of scale advantages and growing to a significant size chain,” stated Petrowski. “In Brookwood, I found the individuals who saw the industry as I did, who had a keen understanding of the drivers of value creation and who were willing to commit capital to realizing that goal.”

Petrowski, a Harvard University graduate, is currently a member of the board of South Jersey Industries a publicly traded natural gas utility and national energy merchant, a member of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s Advisory Council, a trustee of both Boston College High School and Trinity Catholic Schools and also serves on the board of the Society of Independent Gasoline Marketers (SIGMA).

“Joe is a true legend in the convenience and fuel retailing space and I am honored to have him join the Yesway team,” said Trkla. “His proven track record, decades of experience and industry connections will be invaluable to me and the rest of the senior management team as we execute our strategy to build a portfolio of up to 1,000 c-stores in the next several years.”