Convenience Store News Names Inaugural Winners of Category Excellence Awards
CHICAGO — Nineteen outstanding collaborations between a retailer category manager and their supplier or distributor partner have been selected as winners in Convenience Store News’ inaugural Category Excellence Awards program.
These awards were created to spotlight the power of partnership in the U.S. convenience store industry. As convenience retailing continues to get more complex and competitive, collaboration between the industry’s retailers, suppliers and distributors is of increasing importance.
Nominations were submitted to CSNews by c-store industry retailers, suppliers and distributors. Nominators were asked to describe the key contributions of the retailer category manager and the key contributions of the supplier/distributor partner, as well as provide specific metrics on how the partnership improved category sales and profits.
After much deliberation, judges selected the following as winners:
Digital & Loyalty Excellence
Retailer Partner: Erica Miller, Marketing Specialist, Jiffy Trip
Supplier Partner: Rovertown
Retailer Partner: Jackson Tolk, Loyalty & Mobile App Manager, Tri-Star Energy
Supplier Partner: Paytronix
Exclusive Production Collaboration Excellence
Retailer Partner: Steve Rosati, Category Manager, Packaged Bakery, 7-Eleven Inc.
Supplier Partner: The J.M. Smucker Co.
New Product Launch Excellence
Retailer Partner: April Gelber, Category Manager, Center Store Grocery, Cubby’s
Supplier Partner: Kellanova
Retailer Partner: Kate Weisman, Category Manager, EG America
Supplier Partner: Home Market Foods
Retailer Partner: Thomas Hartman, Category Manager, CEFCO Stores
Supplier Partner: Inter-Continental Cigar Corp.
Retailer Partner: Mike Keller & Gretchen Monroe, Senior Category Managers, Circle K
Supplier Partner: Mars Wrigley
Planogram Excellence
Retailer Partner: Brian Sullenger, Vice President of Center Store Merchandising, Sapp Bros.
Supplier Partner: Old Trapper Smoked Products
Retailer Partner: Christine Schaaf, Category Manager, Casey's General Stores Inc.
Supplier Partner: The J.M. Smucker Co.
Retailer Partner: EG America’s Category Management Team — Brian Ferguson, John Lutz, Kim Ross, Mark Kurland, Andrea Annicelli & Josh Perrin
Supplier Partner: McLane Co. Inc.
Retailer Partner: Jackie Stalsberg, Category Manager, Kwik Trip Inc.
Supplier Partner: Mars Wrigley
Promotion Excellence
Retailer Partner: Kimberly Ross, Category Manager, Candy & Packaged Sweets, EG America
Supplier Partner: The Hershey Co.
Retailer Partner: Jessica Starnes, Director of Loyalty & Nick Triantafellou, Director of Marketing & Merchandising, Weigel's
Supplier Partner: Coca-Cola Consolidated
Overall Partnership Excellence
Retailer Partner: Adam Long, Senior Category Manager, Rutter's
Supplier Partner: Black Buffalo
Retailer Partner: Chris Dillard, Tobacco Category Manager, The Spinx Co.
Supplier Partner: Swisher
Retailer Partner: Donnie Green, Senior Sales Manager, Fuel/Convenience, Albertsons Companies Inc.
Supplier Partner: McLane Co. Inc.
Retailer Partner: Chris Johnson, Senior Category Manager, 7-Eleven Inc.
Supplier Partner: The Hershey Co.
Retailer Partner: Dave Weiss, Category Manager, Center Store, Chevron ExtraMile
Supplier Partner: Mars Wrigley
Retailer Partner: Mike Tosi, Category Manager, Wawa Inc.
Supplier Partner: Mars Wrigley
Full coverage of the winners will appear in the March issue of Convenience Store News.
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