CSP Announces Its 2023 Category Managers of the Year

8 retailers recognized for leadership by supplier partners

ORLANDO, Fla., March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- CSP announced the winners of its eighth annual Category Manager of the Year (CMOY) awards March 1 during the Convenience Retailing University (CRU) conference in Orlando, Florida.

These category crusaders were recognized for tackling issues as varied as new product placement and retail disruption to keep their convenience-store chains on track to grow sales through supply chain issues, slower foot traffic, mask mandates and more.

Sponsored by Altria Group Distribution Co., CSP honored the best in the field with an awards banquet emceed by CSP Editor-in-Chief Steve Holtz and Danielle Holloway, senior director of industry engagement, Altria Group, followed by a karaoke party led by rock guitarist Billy Morris. The ceremony celebrated champions in eight core product categories.

"This year's winners dealt with record-high gasoline prices and record-low unemployment rates, as well as out-of-stock and innovation issues that brought challenge after challenge to the typical store set. But our winners remained focused on their product segments even as retailing evolved around them," Holtz said. "We congratulate the winners for keeping the c-store industry on the cutting edge of product selection while adapting to new challenges and product safety standards on the fly."

For the awards, industry suppliers nominated potential finalists in fall 2022 and, under the direction of CSP editors, three finalists from each of the key categories were chosen. The final voting process took place online in January, and CSP tallied the hundreds of votes in February. The winners received the coveted CMOY trophy during CRU and will be featured in a special section of the April issue of CSP, the 2023 Category Management Handbook.

CSP's 2023 Category Manager of the Year winners are:

Behind the Counter: Alex Kupper, MBA, Thorntons LLC
Center Store: Bradford Connell, Thorntons LLC
Dispensed Beverages: James Robert Rastetter, MBA, GPM Investments, LLC
Foodservice: Savannah Johnson, Pilot Flying J
Forecourt/Fuels: Sarah Blodgett, Casey's
General Merchandise/HBC: Aubrey Thornock, Maverik, Inc.
Packaged Beverages: Michael Orwat, G&M Oil Company, Inc.
Packaged Beverages - Alcohol: Shane Mabry, GPM Investments, LLC

Watch for interviews with the winners in the April issue of CSP magazine!

Click here to see a list of all the finalists, and click here to see last year's winners.

Contact:
Steve Holtz, Director of Content, CSP, Winsight LLC
312-940-1576
[email protected]

About Winsight LLC
Winsight LLC is a business-to-business information, event and market intelligence company serving the restaurant and noncommercial foodservice, convenience and petroleum retailing and grocery industries. Winsight provides research and analytics, branding solutions, face-to-face opportunities, lead generation initiatives and content marketing services through products including subscription data products, reports, research tools, research programs, fully custom studies, conferences, custom marketing services, meetings, print and digital trade media. For more information on Winsight, go to www.winsightmedia.com.

SOURCE CSP