“Today, we don’t have a CEO with us—we have a `Lead Goose.’ And that’s his actual title!” chuckled University of Miami Patti and Allan Herbert Business School Dean Paul A. Pavlou as he introduced the Miami Herbert Distinguished Leaders Lecture Series’ latest guest.
Away from the 50,000 workers he leads, Chris Gheysens is better known as the chief executive and chairman of Wawa, Inc., a privately held, family-owned convenience store chain that serves roughly 2 million customers daily. Operating primarily in Mid-Atlantic states, Wawa entered the Florida market in 2012, the year before Gheysens became the firm’s top leader.
He stopped by Storer Auditorium a few days ago to discuss retail industry trends, his career progression since graduating from Villanova University with an accounting degree in 1993, and why corporate culture should be of paramount importance to job seekers
“After college, which now feels like a long time ago, I went into public accounting with a firm, Deloitte (and Touche), and I had a number of clients,” said Gheysens. “And the nice thing about that is, you really get to see a lot of different business models and a lot of different business types. And their culture, because you’re embedded in the company, in their headquarters, sometimes months at a time.
“And Wawa, through the luck of the draw was a client (of mine) at Deloitte,” added Gheysens, 53, who also has an MBA from St. Joseph’s University. “There was something different about Wawa. Not the business, so much, but how the culture treated people. Retail’s a pretty low-margin business, so it can be a little grimy and gritty at times, but it wasn’t like that at Wawa.
“I had the opportunity after Deloitte to join Wawa and I never looked back. That was 27 years ago.”
After taking a controller job in 1997, Gheysens became Wawa’s chief financial and administrative officer 10 years later, president in 2012, and CEO in 2013. During his talk at Miami Herbert, Gheysens occasionally referenced “Lessons From The Flock,” a small, 100-page paperback book that traces Wawa back to the early 1800s, when the company started life as an iron foundry and cotton and textile mill located in New Jersey, Gheysens’ home state.
Several copies of “Lessons from The Flock: How a Unique Mix of Caring, Camaraderie, and Courage Helped a Beloved Brand Take Flight” had been placed on tables in Storer Auditorium’s lobby. The free book chronicled how Wawa is a Native American word for goose, how Wawa entered the convenience store business 60 years ago, and how proud Wawa is of a corporate culture that prioritizes its workers, customers, and the communities where Wawa does business.
Headquartered in Philadelphia and operating more than 1,000 stores, Wawa ranks 20th on Forbes’ annual ranking of America’s Largest Private Companies. And, yes, Lead Goose really is Gheysens’ corporate designation.
“What advice would you give students at they enter the business world?” Dean Pavlou asked.
“Master what’s in front of you when you get into the business world,” Gheysens responded. “What I see sometimes is the trap of, `I’m in this job, but I’m worrying about that next job.’ Master what’s in front of you.
“Don’t ever be afraid to look at lateral moves in an organization, even at a midpoint in your career, even if you think you’re on an upward trajectory,” Gheysens continued. “In my experience, the higher you go in an organization—no matter the culture, no matter the business—the more of a broad-based player you are, the better you’re going to be as a broad-based leader.
“Really get to know the organization you work for, and the people you work for. You’re going to learn through that journey who you are, and what you stand for. I would work like heck to find a company that aligns to your own personal values. That’s solely the reason I’ve been successful staying at Wawa.”