What does NACS political engagement mean to you and what benefits have you experienced from being politically engaged?
NACS political engagement to me is proactively participating in legislation that directly affects our industry. Without NACS engagement with our industry leaders, legislation with potentially negative effects on our businesses would otherwise pass into law unopposed. My involvement with the NACS government relations team has helped me gain meaningful insight into the many challenges facing the convenience and fuel retailing industry. It has also been very gratifying to see the process work and positively affect outcomes favorable to our industry.

What federal legislative or regulatory issues keep you up at night (with respect to the convenience store industry)?
lectric vehicles. I believe policymakers are prematurely racing to a single-technology solution (i.e., EVs) without considering the complexity in creating a competitive market for EV charging. EV adoption cannot evolve properly before ensuring adequate generation and transmission capacity and removing barriers to private sector investment and competition in charging infrastructure, such as modernizing the antiquated electricity market, ratepayers subsidizing utility EV operations, demand charges and the loss of highway infrastructure taxes.

What c-store product could you not live without?
Diesel fuel and a fountain Coke.