Hilmar Hübers
Hilmar Hübers, Chief Executive Officer
Lekkerland SE
Hilmar Hübers, born in 1973, is Chief Executive Officer of Lekkerland SE. At board level, he is responsible for purchasing and category management, smart stores, human resources, strategy & transformation, communications, and the management of Lekkerland's national subsidiaries in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Spain.
He joined the company in 2020 from the REWE Group after Lekkerland became part of the REWE Group. He began his career at the REWE Group as a member of the management board of REWE Markt GmbH before being appointed to the Divisional Board for Germany. In this role, he was most recently responsible for the Customer & Analytics division.
Hilmar Hübers holds a degree in industrial engineering and worked for a management consultancy for ten years after completing his studies.
Zsuzsa Hordai
Zsuzsa Hordai, Head of Strategic Projects
SPAR International
With over 10 years of experience in international market development, strategy, e-commerce and AI, I am currently leading international strategic projects across SPAR worldwide, a leading global food retail organization with over 13,500 stores in 48 countries. I also coordinate and manage our development plans in the GCC region. My mission is to drive growth and innovation through collaboration across SPAR's diverse and dynamic markets, leveraging data, AI-driven insights, best practices, and the power of our network.
As a former International Retail Development Manager at SPAR International, I successfully led the strategic business development and expansion in Europe and China, launching new markets, developing omni-channel capabilities, and leading the global e-commerce action group. My strong background in consumer goods, retail, data, and AI, combined with certifications in Lean Six Sigma, communication and finance, enables me to create value for customers, partners, and stakeholders through effective and engaging solutions.
In addition to my professional roles, I am passionate about mentoring and coaching emerging leaders within the industry. I have guided numerous professionals in their career development, helping them to achieve their goals and excel in their roles. I am particularly committed to female empowerment and leadership, actively supporting initiatives that promote gender equality and the advancement of women in business.
My commitment to leadership extends to my engagement with industry bodies such as NACS, CGF, and the AI Council, where we collaborate to drive key initiatives within the grocery retail industry for a more sustainable and technologically advanced future.
Jesse Hirsh
Jesse Hirsh, Punk
Eco Punks
Jesse Hirsh is a futurist farmer who brings an outsider's perspective and literal critical distance, operating from his farm in rural Eastern Ontario. Yet this is no ordinary farm. Wired up with high speed fiber optic Internet, the Academy of the Impossible engages in a wide range of research regarding agriculture, media, technology, and culture.
He has a Masters degree from Toronto Metropolitan University in algorithmic media, and his current work focuses on the rise of automated media, as well as the governance and ethics of artificial intelligence, data protection, and privacy.
Jesse is also a co-founder of the Eco Punks, a trans-disciplinary agency that analyzes the ecosystems and communities that our clients operate in, helping us identify opportunities resulting from, as well as responses to the ever changing challenges that are imposed on us by an increasingly unpredictable and unstable reality.
Jesse has an infectious energy that lifts spirits and enables creative critical thinking. He’s always learning, sharing, and helping others to do the same.
James Hervey
James Hervey, Head of Petro
Verifone
James is a 20+ year veteran of the petroleum and convenience store industry. In his career James has managed convenience stores, worked for NACS, the global trade association representing the industry, and for the last 13 years has led product management and marketing for the petroleum and convenience store vertical inside of Verifone.
Tom Healey
Tom Healey, VP Facilities
Nouria Energy Corporation
Tom is an accomplished retail development executive with focus on site evaluation, design, permitting and construction. A leader by example who manages a team of technical staff in all aspects of facility development, maintenance, and environmental compliance.
Tom's strong business and technical knowledge enable him to understand, communicate and achieve the objectives of the various project stakeholders.
Tom has been involved with all aspects of Nouria's EV charging strategy and implementation. Nouria has installed has installed DCFC charging stations at eight of its convenience stores and has 25+ more installations planned or in progress.
Tom is a licensed Professional Engineer and Construction Supervisor and is involved in several industry associations.
Mark Hawthorne
Mark Hawthorne, Chief Innovation and Strategy Officer
Upshop
Mark is a senior food retail executive with nearly 20 years of experience at Safeway and Albertsons Companies, where he helped build enterprise capabilities across pricing, promotions, merchandising, loyalty, and shopper analytics.
He later served as a Partner at Nsight, advising grocery retailers and food retail technology providers on market strategy, operating models, and technology investments that deliver measurable results.
Mark is now Chief Innovation and Strategy Officer at Upshop, leading market strategy, growth, and value realization. He works closely with retail executives to support long-term planning and ensure technology investments translate into real business outcomes.
Scott Hartman
Scott Hartman, CEO
Rutter's
Scott is President/CEO of Rutter’s Holdings, operating 82 Rutter’s convenience stores in Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia; Rutter’s Dairy, selling products in five states; and M&G Realty a commercial real estate holding company. Rutter’s is the oldest vertically integrated food company in the U.S. dating back 11 generations, 275 years to 1747. In 2022, Rutter’s was listed as the 77th largest convenience store chain in the US. Rutter’s convenience stores celebrated 50 years in convenience in 2018 and the dairy celebrated 100 years in business in 2021. Rutter’s was recently listed as the second largest privately held company in Central Pennsylvania.
Scott started in the family business at the age of 12 working summers. He received his Accounting Degree from George Washington University and MBA from Duke University. He was employed by Price Waterhouse as Senior Manager in Consulting from 1983-1990 and is a CPA.
Scott is past Chairman of National Association of Convenience Stores, Petroleum Convenience Association for Technology Standards, the Pennsylvania Convenience Store Council and Pennsylvania Food Merchants Association. Scott has served on Advisory Boards to companies including Coca-Cola and PepsiCo. He has served on many local charity boards including York Memorial Hospital, The American Red Cross and Easter Seals. Scott has also been a guest lecturer at Boston University and national & international presenter at numerous food industry conferences.
Scott has been inducted into the Convenience Store Hall of Fame, Food Industry Hall of Fame, Convenience Store Technology Hall of Fame and Candy Hall of Fame. In 2019, he was also recognized by Convenience Store News as “One of the 50 Most Influential People in C-Store History”. In 2015, Scott was awarded the AJC National Human Relations Award.
Rutter’s is the only U.S. based convenience store chain to win the coveted International Convenience Retailer of the Year awarded in London each year. Rutter’s has also been the U.S. chain of the year, has been the industry Food Innovator of the Year winner 3 of the last 10 years, was ranked one of the 500 best mid-sized employers to work for by Forbes in 2021, has ranked #1, #1, #3, #2, #1 nationally for customer mystery shop experience the last 5 years by an independent survey company and was ranked the #4 gasoline brand in the U.S. in 2022 by the USA Today customer poll.
Scott resides in York, Pennsylvania with his wife, Cathy, and has two adult children, Sara who teaches public school in Brooklyn, NY and Christopher, who is Sr. Director of Fuels and Forecourt at Rutter’s.
Scott loves playing golf and has played 131 of Golf Magazine’s Top 100 Courses in the World. There are 204 courses that have ever been listed on the Golf Magazine list. He and his son, Chris, have played 122 of the top 100 courses together and 91 from the 2009 list. No parent/child has ever played one of the year’s list together.