Stewart's Shops has promoted longtime partners and company leaders Alison Abbey (below left) to vice president of personnel and Kelli Derway (below right) to vice president of facilities.
The promotions, effective immediately, were approved during the company’s third quarter board of directors’ meeting and announced Monday.
- Stewart’s Shops is No. 22 on CSP’s 2025 Top 202 ranking of c-store chains by U.S. store count.
Abbey began at Stewart’s in 2006 working in personnel at the Stewart’s plant in Greenfield, New York, the company said. She has spent the past decade in personnel at the corporate office in Ballston Spa.
Abbey is taking over for Tony Carnevale, longtime vice president of personnel, who is retiring early next year, Cooper said.
She is responsible for managing payroll, benefits administration and partner relations for more than 5,500 Stewart’s employees in New York, Vermont and New Hampshire.
“At Stewart’s, we have so many dedicated, hardworking partners who make this company what it is,” Abbey said. “It is a privilege to support them, and I look forward to continuing to help create an environment where they have opportunities to grow with the company.”
Derway started her career at Stewart’s Shops in 1993 as facilities coordinator. Over the years, she has advanced from coordinator to manager, then facilities director, as Stewart’s doubled its footprint to more than 400 shops across three states, the Ballston Spa, New York-based convenience-store chain said.
She is taking over as vice president of facilities from Chad Kiesow, who was promoted to president earlier this year and chief operating officer in late 2023, Robin Cooper, public relations manager for Stewart’s Shop, told CSP.
In her new role, Derway leads a department that invests more than $50 million a year remodeling and rebuilding existing shops as well as selecting new store locations, the company said.
“Stewart’s is such a unique and rewarding place to build your career,” Derway said. “We’re not only committed to reinvesting in our shops and communities but also growing our partners.”
While Stewart's Shops is mostly owned by the family of Chairman William Dake, employees also own about 40% of the company through an employee stock ownership (ESOP) plan. It is known regionally for its milk, ice cream, coffee, to-go food, gasoline and other convenience items. The company has an extensive production, distribution and warehousing network that supplies its stores.
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