Wawa’s Gheysens, Kroger’s McMullen Named CEOs of the Year

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Two convenience store retailer executives, Christopher Gheysens of Wawa Inc. and Rodney McMullen of The Kroger Co., have been named CEOs of the Year by Retail Leader, a sister publication of Convenience Store News published by Stagnito Business Information.

Retail Leader’s annual feature honors company chiefs in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) retail sector who exhibited exemplary leadership, inspiring their teams and companies to innovate and improve.

Gheysens, who became CEO of the Pennsylvania-based Wawa convenience store chain in 2012, oversaw one of the boldest moves in Wawa’s 50-year history when it leapfrogged down the U.S. East Coast and opened its first Florida store in July 2012 in Orlando. It now has more than 85 stores in central Florida and more than 850 units in total. The successful execution of this expansion strategy was cited by Retail Leader in naming Gheysens its co-CEO of the Year for 2015.

McMullen, who became CEO of the 132-year-old grocery and convenience giant in 2014, has kept Kroger on a winning path. Kroger’s last quarterly report marked its 47th consecutive quarter of growth. Same-store sales (excluding fuel) rose 5.3 percent and net income rose 24.8 percent.

According to Retail Leader, McMullen’s tenure at the helm has been marked by both imaginative competency at carrying on the strategies that led to past success and an embrace of new strategies to deal with the trends that are shaking up modern food retailing.

Kroger operates 786 convenience stores in 19 states under six banners: Kwik Shop, Loaf N' Jug, Quik Stop Markets, Tom Thumb Food Stores, Turkey Hill Minit Markets and Smith's Express.

Click here to read more about Retail Leader’s CEOs of the Year.

Retail Leader is the only media brand dedicated to unravelling the critical issues confronting today’s senior-level executives in the CPG retail industry.