ALBANY, N.Y. -- The New York Association of Convenience Stores (NYACS) has announced that Michael Newman and the late Jay Jones have been elected to the New York Convenience Store Hall of Fame, while Fran Duskiewicz is the 2013 recipient of its Carl Tripi Award.
NYACS will honor them at its annual Chairman's Banquet on May 16 in Syracuse, N.Y.
The Hall of Fame honors individual retailers and suppliers for exceptional achievement in the convenience store industry and exemplary service to NYACS.
Michael Newman and his brother James are the third generation of the Newman family to operate Tonawanda, N.Y.-based NOCO Energy Corp., which distributes petroleum and operates NOCO Express, a chain of 40 convenience stores throughout Western New York.
As executive vice president of NOCO Express LLC, Newman has served on the NYACS Retail Board since 2004. He currently chairs its Legislative and Nomination committees, has co-chaired the Chairmen's Open Golf Tournament, and serves on the Executive Committee.
He was elected Retail Board Chairman in May 2010. Under his two-plus years of leadership, NYACS overturned a sharp increase in tobacco registration fees, saving member stores hundreds if not thousands of dollars annually, and helped pass legislation to curb cigarette tax evasion. He has been an effective industry spokesperson on motor fuel and tax fairness issues.
On the national level, he serves on the board of the Society of Independent Gasoline Marketers of America (SIGMA), a national trade group representing motor fuel marketers.
John "Jay" Jones III, a veteran beer sales executive who resided in Brackney Pa., is being inducted posthumously. He was national chain account manager for Rochester, N.Y.-based Genesee Brewing Co., later known as High Falls Brewing Co., for nearly 30 years. He subsequently became regional U.S. sales manager for Canadian brewer Unibroue.
A fixture at NYACS trade shows and other events for many years, Jones loved interacting with retailers and fellow suppliers, and was always eager to help the c-store industry advance, NYACS said. He served on the NYACS Associate Board for seven years, including a term as its chairman in 2002.
He died in a tragic highway accident in Liberty, Pa., in July 2011.
Newman and Jones will be the 38th and 39th individuals inducted into the New York Convenience Store Hall of Fame, which was founded by NYACS in 1986.
Fran Duskiewicz, senior executive vice president of Nice N Easy Grocery Shoppes, Canastota, N.Y., will receive the 2013 Carl Tripi Award for "low-profile, high-impact" contributions to NYACS and the c-store industry.
The award recognizes unsung heroes who have kept a low profile individually, but through their companies made a strong, positive impact on NYACS and the c-store trade. It is named for the late Carl Tripi, who as chairman of Buffalo, N.Y.-based wholesale distributor Tripifoods Inc., always made sure NYACS had enough financial and volunteer support to succeed, without seeking the limelight.
Duskiewicz has worked for the 85-store Nice N Easy chain since 1985, serving in various capacities including store manager, district manager, director of training and education, vice president of operations and chief financial officer.
Last October, he finished his term on the board of directors of the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS). He served on NACS' Research Committee for six years, two of them as chairman. That panel spearheads the annual State of the Industry (SOI) report. He also chaired the annual SOI Summit conference for six years.
He has been a driving force for improved technology standards, shopper research and other initiatives benefiting the C-store trade nationally. He has generously shared his unique perspective on the evolving industry by making presentations at NYACS' annual trade show covering SOI data and shopper insights.
Duskiewicz served on NACS' Executive Committee, Technology Committee and Operations Committee of the Joint Industry Project on Efficient Consumer Response; was a charter member of the NACS Category Management Task Force that authored the "Six Step Process" and the original 32 product categories; was vice president of Technical Policy for the Petroleum/Convenience Alliance for Technical Standards (PCATS); and chaired the NACS/Coca-Cola Retailing Research Council.
The Chairman's Banquet will be the closing event of NYACS' two-day Trade Show & Convention May 15-16 in Syracuse, featuring a golf outing, welcome party, educational seminars, trade exhibits, prizes and other activities for member and nonmember retailers and suppliers.
Based in Albany, NYACS is a private, not-for-profit member organization that leads, safeguards and forges a favorable environment for New York State's diverse community of neighborhood c-stores. It provides vital knowledge, a unified voice on legislative and regulatory issues and ways for members to share ideas, address common challenges and build relationships.
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