Recent news and insights on women in leadership from convenience stores and beyond.
CSP's RLOY
In October, CSP honored Natalie Morhous, president of RaceTrac, as its 2023 Retail Leader of the Year (RLOY).
Morhous has led the RaceTrac convenience store chain as president since 2019, leading an almost picture-perfect path from a college student reluctant to join the family business to an ambitious, respected and successful leader pushing one of the largest privately owned companies in the country to bigger and better things.
Morhous is the first women to earn the CSP title of Retail Leader of the Year.
CSW Event
The C-Store Women conference was held in Napa, California, Nov. 8-10 with the lofty goal of helping women rise into the c-suite of convenience-store chains.
Statistics from Leading Now show women account for 10% of CEOs in Fortune 500 companies, while a Winsight review of CSP's Top 202 list of c-store chains shows women lead only 3% of the largest chains in the convenience industry.
The CSW conference is the start of a long-term effort to begin a shift toward leadership parity in the c-store industry.
Casey's Representation
Casey’s General Stores Inc. was recognized by the Women’s Forum of New York at its Breakfast of Corporate Champions event on Nov. 8 for achieving at least 40% female representation on its board of directors. Women hold 40% of the convenience-store company’s board seats.
Ankeny, Iowa-based Casey’s has more than 2,500 convenience stores in 16 Midwestern states. It just expanded into Texas, its 17th state.
Casey’s 10-member board includes four women:
- Judy Schmeling (lead independent director), former COO, HSN Inc., and former president, Cornerstone Brands
- Cara Heiden, retired co-president, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage
- Larree Renda, retired executive vice president, Safeway Inc.
- Allison Wing, CEO of Oobli Inc., formerly known as Joywell Foods Inc.
“Casey’s is committed to gender balance and diversity across our entire organization. Having a diverse board of directors is one example of this focus and we are honored to be recognized by the Women’s Forum of New York,” said Darren Rebelez, chairman, president and CEO of Casey’s.
This year’s Women’s Forum saluted 233 companies from the S&P 500 and Fortune 1000 that have achieved 40% or more of female representation on their corporate boards. All Corporate Champion honored companies, from 2011 to 2023, have exceeded the national average of board seats held by women, according to BoardEx data.
Spinx's Recognition
The Spinx Co. ranked seventh on the latest list of Fortune's Great Place to Work in the United States for women. Earlier this year, Spinx was officially certified by Great Place To Work. The award is based on what current employees say about their personal experience working at Spinx, Greenville, South Carolina.
“We are very proud of this high ranking through Great Place to Work,” said company President and CEO Steve Spinks. “At Spinx, 56% of our overall team is female and 46% of our management team is female. Without their dedication and commitment we would not be who we are today.”
The process of this ranking is completed by Great Place to Work personnel with a combination of efforts. First, the company must be certified through Fortune, next a certain percentage of women must respond in the survey and lastly, the company must have a certain number of positive responses through these surveys.
Other retailers named to the 2023 Best Workplace for Women list included Wegmans Food Markets at No. 22 and Publix Super Markets at No. 69.