OAKBROOK TERRACE, Ill. -- A mainstay and highlight of Convenience Retailing University (CRU)—Feb. 23-25 at the InterContinental Dallas Hotel—is the CRU Awards, a recognition of retail leaders who exemplify exceptional achievement in diverse categories. The awards, voted on by CSP magazine’s editorial board, honor those operators who deliver superior results in their respective categories through creativity, innovation, execution and customer service.
At the 2016 award ceremony—during the afternoon general session on Wednesday, Feb. 24—CSP salutes three of the most innovative companies within the convenience-store community.
Accepting the awards at CRU will be:
- Design Award. Robby Posener, VP of marketing, merchandising, design and construction at RaceTrac.
According to CSP magazine’s vice president and group editor Mitch Morrison, RaceTrac’s new store design brilliantly distinguishes its fresh-food/restaurant style from traditional c-store fare. It sets the bar for graphics and total imaging, including the use of multiple tones, lighting and design nuances to create a differentiated consumer experience. It works for the traditional on-the-go customer who wants to get in and out quickly or for the customer who wants to stay awhile, tap into free Wi-Fi, have a froyo or baked good with coffee or linger for a more substantial meal.
- Humanitarian Award. Martha Flint, broker sales representative at Impact Sales & Marketing.
Very few people would quit their job and sell their home so they could spend weeks at a time in makeshift hospitals in Africa’s poorest villages. Meet Martha Flint, whose nonprofit Random Acts Worldwide Inc. performs random acts of kindness worldwide, with no limits and no borders, through a team of dedicated volunteers. Their hope is to leave others better off than they found them, and to share their blessings with as many as possible.
- Innovation Award. Jesus Delgado-Jenkins, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at 7-Eleven Inc.
7-Eleven’s newest mission is to make the everyday better, a goal driven by a 20-person innovation team that reports directly to president and CEO Joe DePinto. The team is agile, flexible and able to identify potential solutions, which allows them to create, integrate and scale solutions into the large organization. In addition to delivery and retail options, the team is developing advanced technological innovations to improve the daily lives of its millions of customers.
“We are honored to present these prestigious awards to such high-class individuals and organizations,” said David Jobe, president of Winsight Events. “Our mission for CRU is to educate the c-store industry on the latest innovations while providing a platform to build precious business and personal relationships for the betterment of the industry. What better way to connect with the leaders of the industry than to absorb the information firsthand in face-to-face meetings?”
The CRU production team will visit each of the winners in their home locations to create custom video tributes that attendees can enjoy during the award presentations—along with the inspirational stories and achievements of these individuals and organizations. It is just one of the many educational sessions CRU has to offer to take your business to new heights.
To learn more about the event and to register, please visit ConvenienceRetailing.com. Operators with questions about CRU can contact Jacob Winsor at jwinsor@winsightmedia.com or (480) 337-3428. For sponsorship information, please contact James Rogers at jrogers@winsightmedia.com or (480) 337-3417.
Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.-based Winsight LLC (formerly CSP Business Media LLC) is a market-dominant, business-to-business media and information company specializing in the convenience-retailing, restaurant and noncommercial foodservice industries.
Winsight has an extensive media portfolio of leading publications, including CSP, Restaurant Business, FoodService Director and Convenience Store Products, a suite of digital products including websites, e-newsletters (CSP Daily News and Restaurant Business Daily, among others) and webinars, plus video products, mobile and tablet apps, custom marketing solutions and the convenience-retailer intelligence tool, CSPedia.
The Winsight Events group produces six exclusive, large-scale executive-level conferences—Restaurant Leadership Conference, FARE Conference, Outlook Leadership, Convenience Retailing University, FSTEC and MenuDirections—in addition to more than 12 major EduNetworking conferences and advisory meetings.
Winsight recently acquired Technomic Inc., the leading provider of primary and secondary market information and advisory services to the food industry. Winsight is the recognized leader in the markets it serves.
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