The National Association of Convenience Stores will have a new president and CEO come Jan. 1. Frank Gleeson, former president and CEO of Aramark Northern Europe and 2018-2019 NACS chairman, will succeed Henry Armour, who has held the role since July 2005.
Gleeson (pictured below) will be only the fourth CEO in the association’s 64-year history, NACS said in the Wednesday announcement. Armour said in October that he planned on resigning in 2025.
“I am honored to follow the successes of Henry Armour and excited to lead NACS, which has a stellar reputation both in the United States and around the world,” Gleeson said. “Henry has been a driving force behind making NACS into a truly global organization with members in over 50 countries, as well as developing its executive education offer, its leadership in moving the industry forward with new technology solutions like TruAge and THRIVR, and its advocacy on issues critical to our industry. I look forward to building upon these successes and the great culture that Henry has led at NACS and throughout the industry.”
Armour will provide support to Gleeson and continue to lead international activities at NACS, the organization said.
“For all of my career, I have considered myself a convenience retailer—not an association executive—and that means constantly listening to the customer and responding to their unmet needs,” Armour said. “I’m proud of what we have built at NACS over the past two decades through aggressive advocacy and strong financial management. We have shown that by creating and constantly nurturing a positive culture we can accomplish extraordinary things together. I’m committed to turning over the best team and resources possible to Frank and continuing to support the organization over the coming years.”
Gleeson has deep experience in foodservice and convenience retailing, NACS said. He was president and CEO of food, facilities and uniform services provider Aramark Northern Europe from 2017-2024. There he oversaw a team of more than 20,000 employees across 2,800-plus locations in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Before that, he was retail director at Topaz Energy Group, the largest importer, distributor and retailer of transportation fuel in Ireland with more than 330 c-stores and services stations, NACS said.
Gleeson has previously served on the NACS International Board for 19 years and was on the NACS Board of Directors for 11 years, including his term as chairman from 2018-2019.
The search committee
NACS said it started the process to find a successor for Armour in October 2024 by forming a five-member search committee to identify candidates. The board was comprised of Joe Sheetz, chairman of Sheetz Inc.; Ken Parent, former president of Pilot Flying J; Brian Hannasch, former CEO of Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc.; Annie Gauthier, CFO/co-CEO, St. Romain Oil Company LLC; and Natalie Morhous, CEO of RaceTrac Inc.
The committee focused on four attributes for the next CEO, NACS said, including:
- Deep familiarity with convenience retailing.
- A focus on foodservice, which has more than doubled from 11.9% of in-store sales in c-stores in 2004 to 28.7% in 2024.
- Leadership in technology and digitization.
- Extensive experience in advocacy.
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