Convenience Store News Celebrates Largest Top Women in Convenience Class to Date
LAS VEGAS — Las Vegas is known for its spectacle, so it was only fitting that the 2024 Convenience Store News Top Women in Convenience (TWIC) Awards Gala was a record-breaking event, celebrating the largest class in the competition's 11-year history in front of a sold-out crowd of more than 500 attendees from across the industry.
The Oct. 8 awards gala, held at the Horseshoe Las Vegas following day two of the 2024 NACS Show, honored 107 established and emerging female leaders in the c-store industry, breaking the previous record of 91 honorees. This year's TWIC class included five Women of the Year, 44 Senior-Level Leaders, 43 Rising Stars and 15 Mentors.
Citing Dr. Valerie Young, keynote speaker Natalie Morhous, CEO of RaceTrac Inc., discussed how women more than men experience imposter syndrome — a feeling that you're a fraud and don't deserve the things you've achieved. Imposter syndrome, Morhous said, restrains a woman's energy and confidence, and can make her more risk-averse and less self-promoting than her male peers, thereby hurting her future success.
Morhous shared a story about her own imposter syndrome. After assuming the role of president at RaceTrac in 2019, she attended a convenience industry event where she was the only female executive. Feeling intimidated, Morhous wondered if her male peers would welcome her. Following a conversation with her husband that night about her concerns, she decided that she would not let her imposter syndrome keep her from contributing to the conversations being had. She reentered the room the next day with confidence and chose to treat herself as part of the group until she was given a reason not to.
"I know many of you listening to my story are thinking to yourselves, well, that's easy for you to say — you're CEO. I'm here to tell you, that's your imposter syndrome talking," Morhous said. "Push through those feelings and turn them into your superpower. You're here tonight because of your talent, your leadership, your mentorship, your results. Keep up the good work and make your voices heard. You're blazing the trail for women in the years to come."
Words of Wisdom From the Women of the Year
Each year, five women are selected as the Women of the Year for their positive impact on the success of their own companies, as well as on the convenience store industry at large. Honored as the 2024 Women of the Year were Nikki Boyers, vice president, private brands, 7-Eleven Inc.; Elizabeth Hoffer, vice president, Weigel's Stores Inc.; Ali Marciano, senior vice president, human resources, Core-Mark International; Barbara Stoyko, senior vice president, Mobility Americas, Shell; and Louise Warner, executive vice president, North America operations and global commercial optimization at Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc./Circle K.
Upon receiving her award, Boyers recounted a recent interaction with a male team member who, after observing the leadership at 7-Eleven, assumed his wife's new boss was a woman. This illustrates the positive shift the industry is seeing, she pointed out.
"Let's encourage more women to believe it is possible. Let's create opportunities, open doors and ensure women's voices are heard. Let's encourage women to take on new challenges and step outside their comfort zones," Boyers said. "For the women here tonight, believe in yourself. With determination and support, anything is possible."
Hoffer emphasized that sometimes you have to make hard choices and do hard things in order to succeed. Prior to joining Weigel's, the executive was in a job and field that she loved, but when she thought about what she wanted to achieve, she realized it was financial security — something she had not had before — and high influence over a business, its people and their growth. So, she made a move.
"I once read 'life beings at the end of your comfort zone.' Success might look different to you and that's OK, that's what makes us all unique. If you find yourself in your comfort zone and you're happy, that's great, too. But I'm telling you that whatever you decide, have the courage to go after it and do the hard things," Hoffer said.
Echoing Hoffer's sentiments about stepping outside of your comfort zone, Marciano told the audience about seizing a new opportunity to join Core-Mark in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and becoming part of an industry she knew nothing about. Referring to the first year in her new role at the distributor as "baptism by fire," she said she wouldn't change anything about that experience.
Marciano recounted that when Performance Food Group Co. (PFG) acquired Core-Mark in 2021, bringing the Core-Mark and Eby-Brown businesses under one unit, leadership encouraged her and her team to take a people-first approach to bring meaningful change to the organization. To that end, Core-Mark launched a career growth program to help associates map their careers and actualize the growth potential that comes with being part of an organization as large as PFG. The company also rolled out a recognition platform, as well as a series of podcasts to reach the 10,000-plus associates in the field. Combined, these programs resulted in double-digit reductions of attrition for Core-Mark, a more satisfied workforce, and a double-digit curve of both female and diverse leadership within the organization, Marciano shared.
"We still have a long road to go, but I'm so proud of this team, my team and the leaders who are sitting here tonight with me for truly putting our people first. As I think back on these [last] four years, I often wonder what my life and my career would look like had I not made a scary decision," she said. "You will achieve nothing if you don't try. I want everyone in this room to not only think the same, but have a support system around them to try to do scary things. And, most importantly, the grace to fail fast."
Similar to Marciano, Stoyko encouraged the c-store industry to continue tapping into the humility side of the business — showing up for customers when they need the support, and surprising and delighting them along their own personal journeys.
"One thing I would say about the convenience industry is it is full of passion — passion for innovation and passion for people," she said. "We have passion for giving people [the experience] they want. We should not let other competitors come into the convenience store space and take away our customers. Those are our people, and I want everyone in the industry to really embrace that."
As the night's final Woman of the Year honoree, Warner reflected on her own experience with gender bias. Being raised by a single mom with the support of two grandmothers, she said it was clear to her as a child that women could do anything. However, as Warner got older, a shift started to occur where she was questioned about pursuing a degree in chemical engineering, being told maybe there was a "nicer degree" for her.
When she got to the workplace, she had to work a little harder than her peers and prove herself more. She credited the support of mentors and leaders who helped her get where she is today. "Fortunately for me, I had some amazing mentors and leaders that challenged me to do my best every day, to be myself and to take every opportunity in front of me," Warner remarked.
Having never worked for a woman, she concluded her speech with the statistic that if we stay at the same rate of change, we will reach gender parity in 58 years.
"Thank you to Convenience Store News for hosting these important awards and for all of you showing support that we need change, and that we can make change happen," she said. "Hopefully, we'll make some more progress with the talent in this room, and maybe one day I'll have the opportunity to work for one of the women in this room."
A Corporate Champion
The awards gala concluded with the presentation of the CSNews Top Women in Convenience Corporate Empowerment Award to Laval, Quebec-based Couche-Tard.
Now in its third year, this award honors a convenience retail company that commits to gender equality, paves the way to empower women in leadership roles, and is a champion for the inclusion of women in the goals and vision of the enterprise.
Chief People Officer Ina Strand accepted the award on behalf of the company.
“How did we get here? We made equitable representation opportunities and equitable pay one of our sustainability goals. We committed ourselves to creating leadership and mentorship programs to provide guidelines for investment. And we also made ourselves a more attractive employer for women,” Strand said. “Our goal is to reflect our global and diverse customer base. In every way ... do the right thing is one of the values we live by and creating more equitable, diverse and inclusive workplaces is the right thing to do for our team members, for our communities and for growing our business.”
Supporters of the 2024 Top Women in Convenience program included: founding and presenting sponsor Altria Group Distribution Co.; platinum sponsors ITG Brands, PepsiCo Inc. and Reynolds Marketing Services Co.; gold sponsors BIC USA, The Boston Beer Co., The Coca-Cola Co., Core-Mark International, Juul Labs, Krispy Krunchy Chicken, Mars Wrigley, McLane Company Inc., Mondelēz International, PDI Technologies, Premier Manufacturing Inc. and Swedish Match; silver sponsors Anheuser-Busch, BeatBox Beverages, BlueTriton, Constellation Brands, Glanbia Performance Nutrition, Lindt USA, Shiftsmart and Taylor Farms/Crunch Pak; and Corporate Empowerment Award sponsor The Hershey Co.
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