CSNews Hall of Fame to Honor QT’s Cadieux, Pinnacle’s Johnson
JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Chet Cadieux, chairman, president and CEO of QuikTrip Corp., and Bob Johnson, founder and CEO of The Pinnacle Corp., are this year’s inductees into the Convenience Store News Hall of Fame.
The newest Hall of Famers, along with the 2016 Convenience Store News Retailer Executive of the Year winner (who will be announced May 2), will be honored at a gala banquet and induction ceremony this fall in Tulsa, Okla., hometown of Cadieux’s 725-plus unit convenience store chain.
Cadieux is only the second offspring of a Hall of Famer to be inducted. In fact, Convenience Store News launched the Hall of Fame in 1987 with the induction of his father, Chester Cadieux. The elder Cadieux passed away in March. Sonja Hubbard of E-Z Mart Stores Inc. was the first offspring inducted, succeeding her late father, Jim Yates, into the Hall of Fame in 2010.
Over the past 29 years, the Convenience Store News Hall of Fame has recognized convenience store industry pioneers and innovators from retailer and supplier companies of all sizes. Retailer inductees have included Scott Hartman of Rutter’s Farm Stores, John MacDougall of Nice N Easy Grocery Shoppes Inc., Dick Wood of Wawa Inc., Carl Bolch Jr. of RaceTrac Petroleum Inc., Dean Durling of QuickChek Corp., Don Zietlow of Kwik Trip Inc., and Steve and Stan Sheetz of Sheetz Inc.
Inductees into the supplier wing of the Hall of Fame have included Dave Riser of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Jerry Rose and Steve Brady of McLane Co. Inc., Joe Burke of Coca-Cola Enterprises, Greg Gilkerson of PDI Inc., Robert Sears of Altria Group Distribution Co., Jay Ard of The Coca-Cola Co., and Tom Joyce of The Hershey Co.
ABOUT THIS YEAR’S HONOREES
Cadieux, a native of Tulsa, graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business from the University of Tulsa in 1989. He began his full-time career with QuikTrip on the graveyard shift just after graduating. He celebrated his 25th year of service with the company in August 2014.
The company, co-founded by his father in 1958, has grown to become the 28th largest privately-held company in the United States. With annual sales in excess of $12 billion, QuikTrip operates more than 725 stores primarily in major cities including Tulsa, Kansas City, Wichita, Des Moines, St. Louis, Atlanta, Dallas, Phoenix, Tucson, and most recently Greenville, S.C. and Charlotte, N.C.
Nearly 60 percent of QuikTrip's 19,700 employees work full-time. The retailer has been included on Fortune’s list of the “100 Best Companies to Work for in America” for 14 consecutive years. For 2016, QT ranked No. 76 on Fortune’s list.
In addition to his role at QuikTrip, Cadieux serves as a director on the following boards: Sheetz Inc. of Altoona, Pa.; Bank of Oklahoma N.A., Tulsa; Tulsa’s Future Oversight Committee; University of Tulsa; and The Committee of One Hundred, Tulsa.
Cadieux has also served as past board member of NACS from 2003 to 2004; chairman of the Tulsa River Parks Authority Board in 2010; chairman for the Tulsa Metro Chamber of Commerce for 2007; and chairman of the board for Tulsa Area United Way for 2013.
He is married and has two children. In his free time, he enjoys auto racing, snow skiing and aviation.
Johnson founded and leads one of the industry’s leading suppliers of e-commerce solutions and automation technology companies. Pinnacle’s products are used daily by thousands of convenience store managers to improve their store operations.
Johnson is a frequent speaker at convenience and petroleum industry events and association meetings. He is very active outside his own company on behalf of the convenience store industry, having served since 1991 as a member of the NACS Supplier Board of Directors. He also served as chairman of the organization from 1994 to 1996, and served on several working committees, including Past Chairmans Committee, NACS Technology Committee, NACS eBusiness Committee, NACS Technology Standards Steering Committee, and chairman of POS & Back Office Integration Working Committee.
Prior to founding Pinnacle in 1990, Johnson was vice president and general manager of Norand Corp., Convenience Systems Division. Norand was an early innovator and supplied the point-of-sale equipment installed in more than 3,500 convenience stores, including Southland Corp. (7-Eleven) in Dallas, National Convenience Stores (Stop-N-Go) in Houston, and Cumberland Farms in Boston. Norand also marketed and supported the ProfiMax convenience store accounting system used by 150-plus convenience store chains representing more than 4,500 locations.
Over the course of his career, Johnson has also worked for May Department Stores, St. Louis; Pfizer Genetics, St. Louis; and Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Des Moines.
Johnson’s other affiliations include the Arlington Chamber of Commerce, Association of Computing Machinery, Downtown Arlington Management Corp. (past chair), and Arlington Public Library Foundation Board (chair).