Convenience Store News Reveals 2023 Hall of Fame Inductees

Joe Sheetz is the third member of his family to be inducted into the CSNews Hall of Fame, following his uncle Steve Sheetz, who was inducted in 1995, and his uncle Stan Sheetz, who became a Hall of Famer in 2013.

Joe began working for Altoona, Pa.-based Sheetz Inc. in various accounting and operations functions during high school and college. He graduated from The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor's degree in economics in 1989. 

After graduation, he worked as an employee benefit and pension plan consultant for CGI Consulting in the suburban Philadelphia area, specializing in designing benefit and retirement plans for major corporations. In 1995, he returned to Sheetz Inc. as director of personnel, and later became executive vice president of finance in June 1996. In this position, he led all finance, accounting, technology, real estate and risk management functions, and was an active member of the executive committee. 

Joe advanced into the position of president and CEO of Sheetz Inc. in 2013. He moved solely into the CEO role from 2018 through 2021. In February of this year, he was appointed the company's new chairman of the board of directors.

His responsibilities include overseeing the board's activities as they relate to corporate governance and risk, executive appointments and compensation, and long-term planning. The board's goal is to hold senior leadership accountable to growing the company and operating with the company's shareholders' best interests in mind.

Sheetz Inc. is a family-owned business with approximately 25,000 employees operating convenience stores in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina. Known for its award-winning proprietary foodservice program, the company has annual revenues of more than $11 billion and is currently ranked by Forbes Magazine as the 37th largest private company in the United States. Sheetz Inc. has also been ranked in the Fortune "Best 100 Companies to Work For" list for eight of the last nine years, currently sitting at No. 58.

Joe is a former chairman of the NACS board of directors and was previously honored by CSNews as its Retailer Executive of the Year in 2018. This annual award recognizes a retailer executive who exemplifies leadership, business acumen, dedication to the industry, and commitment to community service.

Kevin Martello is a fixture in the food and beverage industry with a career spanning nearly four decades, most of which has been spent working with the iconic brands in the KDP portfolio including Dr Pepper, Snapple, Sunkist, 7Up, Canada Dry and more.

In his current role, he represents KDP's vast portfolio of brands and oversees a national team of sales representatives who provide beverage solutions across the convenience retail sector. 

Prior to this role, Martello served as vice president of national retail sales and industry relations, convenience retail for KDP, leading packaged beverage business account planning and sales and marketing execution for the convenience retail sector. Throughout his career, he has leveraged his expertise in convenience and small-format retail to take on multiple supporting roles within the beverage industry.

Martello is a former chairman of the NACS Supplier Board and currently serves as the Nominating Committee chair. Additionally, he serves on the NACS Political Action Committee in support of the convenience store industry and its retailers. 

He completed the Executive Leadership Program at Cornell University and attended the Sales Management Strategies course from the Columbia Business School Executive Education program.