NACS Chairman Jeff Miller: 'Time to Celebrate Our Achievements'

ATLANTA -- During the NACS Show closing general session on Friday, Jeff Miller, president of Miller Oil Co. and NACS incoming chairman, said he became involved with the industry association for two reasons: "I wanted to build a better business and I wanted to make friends in an industry that I am passionate about."

NACS brings people together to share best ideas -- and no other industry shares like the convenience and petroleum retailing industry, said Miller, who succeeds Jay Ricker as the 2010-2011 NACS chairman.

"We do things that other industries can't because we share so much," he said, citing the recent legislative victory dealing with swipe fees. "This culture of sharing means that when we need to, we can mobilize and speak as one."

Swipe fee reform is just one of so many things that NACS has done for the industry in the last 49 years, Miller noted. In the 1980s, NACS stopped the growing threat of beer/gas bans, when states like California were trying to prevent stores that sold gas from also selling beer.

"If you sell beer today, you know what a big deal that is," said Miller, who operates 36 Miller's Neighborhood Markets and supplies fuels to nearly 100 dealer sites in Virginia and Florida. Beer delivers an industry average of approximately $36,000 per store in gross profit.

In the 2000s, NACS spearheaded the effort to repeal the special occupational tax SOT of $250 per year placed on stores that sell beer or wine. "That action alone has taken nearly $2 billion in fees out of our expense lines -- and counting," Miller said.

In the 1980s, and then again in the 1990s, NACS helped move up daylight saving time. At the time it was estimated it would add $1 billion in sales every year for the industry. "That's tens of billions of dollars in sales since then," Miller noted.

These three achievements are just a few of the many milestones that NACS will recognize in 2011 as it celebrates its 50th anniversary. The celebration, stressed Miller, will be really about what the industry as a whole has achieved -- and what it will continue to achieve together with its highly engaged members.

"This is really a celebration about us," he said. "Overcoming obstacles and coming together to control our destinies. About becoming one industry. About speaking with one voice. And about getting the job done."

Miller will be joined by the following retailers on the NACS Executive Committee:

• NACS Vice Chairman-Treasurer: Tom Robinson, president of Santa Clara, Calif.-based Robinson Oil Corp.;
• NACS Vice Chairman of NACSPAC: Dave Carpenter, president and CEO of Urbandale, Iowa-based J.D. Carpenter Companies Inc.;
• NACS Vice Chairman of Technology: Patrick Lewis, partner of Twin Falls, Idaho-based Oasis Stop 'N Go Convenience Stores;
• NACS Vice Chairman of Government Relations: Brad Call, general counsel and executive vice president of human resources, public relations and adventure culture of North Salt Lake, Utah-based Maverik Inc.;
• NACS Vice Chairman of Member Services: Jack Kofdarali, president of Corona, Calif.-based J&R Oil Company;
• NACS Vice Chairman of Research: Fran Duskiewicz, senior executive vice president for Canastota, N.Y.-based Nice N Easy Grocery Shoppes Inc.; and
• NACS Vice Chairman of Convention: Steve Loehr, vice president of operations support for LaCrosse, Wisc.-based Kwik Trip Inc.

Also on the NACS Executive Committee are 2009-10 NACS Chairman Ricker, chairman of Ricker Oil Co. of Anderson, Ind. and 2008-09 NACS Chairman Sonja Hubbard, CEO of E-Z Mart Stores Inc., Texarkana, Texas.

Go to www.csnewsattheshow.com for more coverage of the 2010 NACS Show.