CSP is proud to announce the finalists in its 2023 Category Manager of the Year (CMOY) Awards, nominated by the convenience-store supplier community. These are the best of the best from independent, midsize and large chains across the United States.
Between now and Jan. 31, CSP is asking supplier partners to cast their votes to recognize the c-store industry’s finest category managers. Winners are chosen in eight key c-store segments. Winners will be announced during the 2023 Convenience Retailing University conference, to be held Feb. 28-March 2 in Orlando, Fla. The winners will be featured in a special section of CSP magazine’s April issue.
“2023 represented a third year of distribution challenges and slow new-product development in most categories. That requires category managers to be vigilant and move quickly to meet consumers’ needs,” said Steve Holtz, editor-in-chief of CSP. “It’s great to see these retailers earn the recognition they deserve for driving sales and building traffic for their chains, and working with their suppliers to make the absolute best of a difficult situation.”
Suppliers nominated dozens of potential finalists at the end of 2022 and, with the help of CSP editors, finalists were chosen based not only on bottom-line results, but also on the knowledge and forecasting abilities of these category managers, who arguably know more about today's consumer than anyone else.
The 2023 finalists for Category Manager of the Year are:
| Behind the Counter/Tobacco | |
| Kraig Knudsen | Circle K |
| Alex Kupper | Thorntons |
| Michael Tirey | Circle K |
| Center Store | |
| Brad Connell | Thorntons |
| Leslie Crews | The Spinx Co. |
| Charles Iszard | CrossAmerica Partners |
| Dispensed Beverages | |
| Jarrod Morrill | Parkland USA |
| Jim Rastetter | GPM Investments |
| Drew Whitefield | 7-Eleven |
| Foodservice | |
| Savannah Johnson | Pilot Co. |
| Ben Lucky | Wills Group|Dash In |
| Kate Weisman | EG America |
| Forecourt/Fuels | |
| Mohammad Amad | Circle K |
| Sarah Blodgett | Casey's General Stores |
| Brad Petersen | Kum & Go |
| General Merchandise/HBC | |
| Anne Johnson | Walmart Fuel |
| Shane Perry | CrossAmerica Partners |
| Aubrey Thornock | Maverik |
| Packaged Beverages-Alcohol | |
| DeeDon Bates | Yesway |
| Shane Mabry | GPM Investments |
| Tim Schuster | Murphy USA |
| Packaged Beverages-Nonalcohol | |
| Joseph Brumfield | La Lomita |
| Jim Jacko | Coen Markets |
| Mike Orwat | G&M Oil Co. |
Click here to vote for the finalists. The 2023 Category Manager of the Year Awards are sponsored by Altria Group Distribution Co. Click here to see last year’s winners.
CSP’s 2023 Convenience Retailing University conference will dig deep into category sales trends and best practices. We’ll also name our Category Managers of the Year. Click here to register now.
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