Alexandria, VA — NACS (the Nationwide Affiliation of Comfort Shops) has named Frank Gleeson, former president and CEO of Aramark Northern Europe and 2018-2019 NACS Chairman of the Board, as its president and CEO starting January 1, 2026. Gleeson will succeed present President and CEO Henry Armour and be solely the fourth CEO within the group’s 64-year historical past.
Armour has served as NACS president and CEO since July 2005. Following his tenure, he’ll present assist to Gleeson and proceed to steer worldwide actions at NACS for a number of years.
“I’m honored to comply with the successes of Henry Armour and excited to steer NACS, which has a stellar fame each in america and all over the world. Henry has been a driving pressure behind making NACS into a really world group with members in over 50 nations, in addition to growing its govt training provide, its management in shifting the trade ahead with new know-how options like TruAge and THRIVR, and its advocacy on points essential to our trade. I look ahead to constructing upon these successes and the nice tradition that Henry has led at NACS and all through the trade,” says Gleeson.
Gleeson has deep expertise in foodservice and comfort retailing. As president and CEO of Aramark Northern Europe from 2017 to 2024, he oversaw a crew of greater than 20,000 workers throughout 2,800-plus places in the UK, Eire ,and EMEA (Europe, the Center East and Africa), which served an estimated a million meals a day.
Previous to Aramark, Gleeson was retail director at Topaz Power Group, the biggest importer, distributor and retailer of transportation gas in Eire with greater than 330 comfort shops and repair stations, 60 distribution depots, and 4 import terminals. He additionally served as vice-president of retail at Statoil Eire (now Equinor), the place he led the event of the primary American-style comfort retailer in Eire. Most not too long ago, he served as chairman of the Nationwide Oil Reserve Company in Eire.
Gleeson additionally has been energetic in NACS and different commerce associations. He served on the NACS Worldwide Board for 19 years and was on the NACS Board of Administrators for 11 years, together with his time period as 2018-19 NACS Chairman of the Board. As well as, he was a board member and chairman of Retail Eire (the main enterprise group representing the retail sector in Eire), a board member and president of the Irish Enterprise and Employers Confederation, and a board member of the Irish Transport Authority.
In October 2024, NACS initiated the method to transition its management from Armour to a brand new chief in 2026 by forming a five-member search committee to determine candidates and help within the choice of the following CEO, which was comprised of Joe Sheetz, chairman of Sheetz Inc.; Ken Mother or father, former president of Pilot Flying J; Brian Hannasch, former CEO of Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc.; Annie Gauthier, CFO/co-CEO, St. Romain Oil Firm LLC; and Natalie Morhous, CEO of RaceTrac Inc.
The search committee centered on 4 attributes for the following CEO as a part of the choice course of:
- Deep familiarity with comfort retailing and the innovation course of that’s driving it ahead.
- A concentrate on foodservice, which has greater than doubled from 11.9 p.c of in-store gross sales in comfort shops in 2004 to twenty-eight.7 p.c in 2024.
- Management in know-how and digitization, which is crucial for operational efficiencies and reinventing the longer term provide of comfort to clients.
- Intensive expertise in advocacy in any respect ranges.
“We’re enthusiastic about what Frank brings to NACS. He met all the factors that we have been in search of — after which some. Most of all, his ardour for nurturing an amazing tradition and constructing and rising successful groups is a essential element to proceed the tradition that Henry Armour has constructed at NACS over the previous 20 years,” says Sheetz.
“For all of my profession, I’ve thought of myself a comfort retailer — not an affiliation govt — and meaning continually listening to the shopper and responding to their unmet wants. I’m happy with what we’ve constructed at NACS over the previous 20 years by means of aggressive advocacy and powerful monetary administration. We’ve got proven that by creating and continually nurturing a optimistic tradition we will accomplish extraordinary issues collectively. I’m dedicated to turning over one of the best crew and assets potential to Frank and persevering with to assist the group over the approaching years,” says Armour.
