NACS announced the election of retail members to serve on its Board of Directors. The new Board members assumed their positions during the NACS Board of Directors meeting at the NACS Show in Las Vegas last week.
The NACS retail members elected to serve on the Board of Directors are: Gary Arthur, senior vice president, Valero Energy Corp., and president, Valero Retail Holdings Inc. (San Antonio); Edward Holmes, president, Holmes Oil Co. Inc. (Chapel Hill, N.C.); Anthony Kenney, president, Speedway SuperAmerica LLC (Enon, Ohio); Max Lenker, president, RaceTrac Petroleum Inc. (Atlanta); Steve Loehr, vice president of operations support, Kwik Trip Inc. (La Crosse, Wis.); Bipin Patel, president, Speedy Mart Development Inc. (Springfield, N.J.); Joe Sheetz, executive vice president, finance and real estate, Sheetz Inc. (Altoona, Pa.)
A member-driven organization, NACS is lead by a 30-member Board of Directors. Twenty-eight industry retailers are elected to the Board, including two retailers from non-North American countries. In addition, the chairman and chairman-elect of the NACS Supplier Board also serve on the Board of Directors.
Board Members Bios
Gary Arthur is senior vice president, Valero Energy Corp., and president, Valero Retail Holdings Inc. In this role, he oversees all activities related to the company’s nearly 1,000 company-operated stores. Arthur joined Valero in 2000 as vice president of marketing, supply and transportation, and has overseen the company’s retail business unit since then. He has more than 31 years of experience in marketing, supply and trading, transportation and retail. Arthur spent nearly 20 years with Ashland Inc., serving in a variety of increasingly responsible management positions, and was with Colonial Industries before joining Valero. He earned a B.B.A. in business administration from the University of Kentucky and an M.B.A. from Morehead State University. Arthur will serve as a member of the NACS Legislative Committee.
Edward Holmes is president of Holmes Oil Co. Inc. The company operates 22 stores and is a petroleum distributor 25 stores. Holmes began his career at Kenan Oil Company in 1983. In 1997, he purchased the stock of the company and renamed the company as Holmes Oil. Holmes is very active in the industry. He is a past president of the North Carolina Petroleum & Convenience Marketers Association and currently is on the Strategy Advisory Board of BP Fuels U.S., the Exxon Business Advisory Board and the North Carolina legislative subcommittee studying offshore energy production in the state. Holmes earned a B.A. in economics from the University of North Carolina. He is a member of the NACS Research Committee and NACSPAC Committee.
Anthony Kenney is president of Speedway SuperAmerica LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Marathon Oil Corp. The company has 1,551 company-operated stores and 64 franchise locations in nine states. Kenney has more than 33 years of experience in the oil and gas and convenience retailing industry. He has held numerous positions at Marathon Oil Corp. in international and domestic exploration and production, as well as supply and transportation. At Speedway SuperAmerica he has served as commercial manager, controller, treasurer and vice president of finance and ITS. Kenney was named president in 2005. Kenney is a member of the boards of directors for both the Ohio Chamber of Commerce and the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce. He earned a B.S. in accounting from Miami (OH) University and completed the executive program at the University of Michigan Business School.
Max Lenker is president of RaceTrac Petroleum Inc., headquartered in Atlanta, GA. Founded in 1937, the company today operates 550 RaceTrac convenience stores in 12 southeastern states. It also leases RaceWay stores to third-party contract operators. Lenker joined RaceTrac Petroleum in 1974 after completing active duty in the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force. He earned a B.S. from Troy State University (now known as Troy University) in 1972. Lenker also is a member of the Society of Independent Gasoline Marketers of America (SIGMA) and will serve as a member of the NACS Legislative Committee.
Steve Loehr is vice president of operations support for Kwik Trip Inc., which operates 398 stores in three states. Prior to joining Kwik Trip 19 years ago, Loehr owned and operated a supermarket in the 1980s and worked for Gateway Foods of Pennsylvania, serving four years as its president. He is active in a number of industry groups, serving on the boards of the Wisconsin Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Store Association and Wisconsin Grocers Association, and is a member of the Society of Independent Gasoline Marketers of America (SIGMA). Loehr also is a board member of Merchants Bank, Martin Luther College and Western Technical College. He earned a B.S. in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Loehr will serve as a member of the NACS Legislative Committee.
Bipin Patel is president of Speedy Mart Development Inc., the managing company for Speedy Mart Food Stores, which operates stores in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. In the late 1990s Patel got involved in the computer consulting business and today also has business interests in real estate, hotels and restaurants. His latest venture is Akshar media, a media company that he founded in 2001 that recently produced the Indian Bollywood movie The Hangman. Patel is active in several industry groups. He is a founding president and current chairman of Asian-American Retailers’ Association, which was founded in 2004 and has more than 1,000 convenience stores, gas stations and liquor stores as members. Patel is also a chairman of the Indus American Bank, an Edison, New Jersey-based community bank for the South Asian community. He also has been active in number of Indian business and community associations. Patel earned B.S. in textile engineering from University of Baroda in India. He will serve as a member of the NACS Member Services Committee.
Joe Sheetz is executive vice president of finance and real estate at Sheetz Inc. The company was founded in 1952 by Bob Sheetz as a small dairy/deli in Altoona, PA, and today is one of the fastest growing, family-owned convenience stores in the world, with more than 350 locations across six states. Sheetz joined the company in 1995 as director of personal after serving six years as a pension and benefit consultant for CGI (Consulting Group Inc.). He was named to his current position in 2006. Sheetz is active in his local community, serving as chairman of the board of trustees of Mount Aloysius College, chairman of the Altoona Blair County Development Corp., cofounder and board member of Operation Our Town, president of the Altoona Area Baseball Association and as an advisory board member of M&T Bank. Sheetz previously served as president of the Blair County Chamber of Commerce. He earned a B.S. in economics from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Sheetz will serve as a member of the NACS Research Committee.