People on the Move: Clif Bar, GetUpside, Marathon Petroleum, TravelCenters of America & Weigel's
NATIONAL REPORT — Retailers, wholesalers and suppliers in the convenience store industry are only as good as their management teams and employees. In this special roundup, Convenience Store News runs down the most recent executive changes at the top in the industry.
Clif Bar & Co.
Clif Bar & Co. named Sally Grimes as the company's new CEO. In this role, Grimes will apply her 25 years of experience as a food industry leader to Clif's purpose-driven "Five Aspiration" business model, focusing on sustaining People, Community, Planet, Brands and Business.
With the appointment of Grimes, Clif Bar founder, owners and current co-CEOs Gary Erickson and Kit Crawford remain on the company's board of directors.
Most recently, Grimes served as group president at Tyson Foods where she was responsible for the $10-billion Prepared Foods business. Prior to joining Tyson Foods, she held senior leadership positions at Kraft Foods, Newell Rubbermaid and The Hillshire Brands Co.
Core-Mark Holding Co. Inc.
Core-Mark Holding Co. Inc. hired Jennifer Hulett as senior vice president and chief human resource officer. She is responsible for employee engagement, change management, talent acquisition and play a key role in shaping the company's future strategic direction.
Hulett joined Core-Mark from Ericsson, a multinational networking and telecommunications company, where she was vice president of people for North America. Prior to joining Ericsson, she was with General Electric for 13 years, where she served in human resources roles of increasing responsibility within the nuclear, power generation, and oil and gas industries, with her last role being vice president of human resources within General Electric's Oil and Gas segment.
Essentia Water
Essentia Water's founder and CEO Ken Uptain elected Scott Miller, former CEO of Tampico Beverages Inc., to succeed him as the company's CEO, following his decision to move into an executive chairman role. The leadership changes took effect on June 1.
Miller brings more than 30 years of experience in the beverage industry to Essentia. In his 15 years at Tampico Beverages, he led the company through innovative product expansions, provided global strategic insight, and built a strong executive leadership team along with a culture of empowerment. Other brands he has worked with include Pepsi, Snapple, Gatorade and Dr. Pepper, among several others.
Ferrero USA Inc.
Michael Zacharias joined Ferrero USA Inc., part of Ferrero Group, as vice president, Trade Marketing and Category Management, USA. In this new role, Zacharias leads trade marketing, category management and shopper marketing for Ferrero's portfolio. He reports to James Klein, Ferrero chief customer officer, Ferrero USA.
Zacharias comes to Ferrero from Anheuser-Busch, where he spent the entirety of his career. Most recently, he served as vice president of sales for the company's northeast region. Throughout his tenure with the company, he held other corporate leadership positions, including stints as vice president of trade marketing and group director of revenue management.
GetUpside
GetUpside is expanding its fuel and convenience store team with the addition of Meredith Sadlowski. She is a senior business development executive with extensive experience in the downstream oil and gas industry. In her new role, she will manage all activity and growth related to GetUpside's fuel and convenience store business, which already drives $1 billion in commerce through the platform.
Prior to GetUpside, Sadlowski worked with the Carlyle Group of companies as a chief commercial officer in the infrastructure energy fund and spent more than a decade in various roles at Gulf Oil, including senior vice president of Branded Sales and Marketing.
Marathon Petroleum Corp.
The board of directors of Marathon Petroleum Corp. (MPC) elected John P. Surma to serve as non-executive chairman of the board. In addition, the board elected MPC President and CEO Michael J. Hennigan to serve as a member of the board.
Surma, a member of the MPC board of directors since 2011, retired as CEO of United States Steel Corp. in September 2013 and as executive chairman in December 2013. He is a member of the boards of directors of MPLX GP LLC, Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. and Trane Technologies plc.
Hennigan assumed his role as president and CEO of MPC in March. He also serves as president and CEO of the general partner of MPC's sponsored master limited partnership, MPLX LP. Prior to joining MPLX in 2017, he was president of crude, NGL and refined products of the general partner of Energy Transfer Partners LP.
Pixotine Products
Larry Glass joined Pixotine Products as key account manager. Glass has extensive experience in the industry, and was previously a senior sales executive with U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co and Altria Group Inc. for more than 27 years from 1982 to 2009.
TravelCenters of America Inc.
TravelCenters of America Inc. (TA) added Jamie Hubbard as senior vice president of procurement. He will head the newly created procurement department and lead the company's strategic initiative to consolidate purchasing in order to create better execution, improve economies of scale in pricing and drive overall efficiency across the organization.
Hubbard brings more than 25 years of industry experience to TA. He most recently oversaw the procurement efforts for Ascena Retail Group, the parent company of Ann Taylor, Loft, Lane Bryant, Catherines and Justice. In this role, he helped build a Procurement Center of Excellence to leverage spend across 3,200 stores and corporate headquarters. He also spent more than a decade at Burlington Coat Factory, where he held roles including vice president of procurement.
Weigel's
May 2, 2020 marked a special day for Weigel's when its longest-tenured employee, Mary Brookshire, retired after 41 years and one month. Customers and fellow team members celebrated her retirement with cards, balloons and cake.
Brookshire began her career at the company when there were just 14 Weigel stores. She spent more than two decades of her career at the c-store on Northshore Drive in Knoxville, Tenn.
"Mary knew more customers by name, and they knew her name — more than any other employee we have," said Bill Weigel, chairman of Weigel's. "She is going to be missed by everyone she encountered, but we hope and plan she will return for some special 'Mary Thursdays' after she enjoys a bit of well-deserved retirement."
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