PDI Sponsors New NACS Leadership Program at MIT

Endowment Helps Develop Next Generation of Convenience Retail Innovators

PDI, a global company with leading enterprise software solutions serving the convenience retail, petroleum wholesale and logistics industries, announced its support and commitment as an endowment partner of the NACS Innovation Leadership Program for business leaders.

“We’re proud to support this new program that embodies our commitment to building lasting relationships and helping nurture the industry’s next generation of innovators and visionary thinkers”

The National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) recently launched the program for top-level executives who want to drive innovation in their organizations and the industry. The new educational program will take place Nov. 3-8, 2019, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Sloan School of Management. It’s the first NACS program of its kind at MIT, made possible by the association’s partnership with PDI, Shell and Gilbarco Veeder-Root.

“We’re proud to support this new program that embodies our commitment to building lasting relationships and helping nurture the industry’s next generation of innovators and visionary thinkers,” said Jimmy Frangis, CEO, PDI.

Read More: NVIDIA DGX-Ready Program Goes Global, Doubles Co-Location Partners

Unique Program Designed for Convenience and Fuel Retail Executives

The NACS leadership program combines research-based management frameworks with practical, hands-on experiences and offers ample networking opportunities for attendees. The curriculum will cover operating models, supply chain, customer experience, people engagement and culture change. The courseware integrates lessons and tools from various areas, including business strategy, design thinking and digitalization, all of which touch on core facets of PDI’s operations. Program registration is now open to leaders at retailers, distributors and NACS member companies.

This unique program focuses on business model and strategic innovation and provides attendees the opportunity to apply those methods to their own companies. The initiative builds upon the phenomenal entrepreneurial track record of MIT’s alumni, who have collectively created 30,000 companies over the years with more than 4.6 million employees and nearly $2 trillion in annual revenues.

NACS represents 2,100 retailer and 1,750 supplier members from more than 50 countries. The organization advocates for the convenience store industry, which consists of 153,000 stores selling fuel, food and merchandise in the U.S. alone.

Read More: Fast-Growing Fintech Firm Uphold Doubles Presence in Portugal

“Better Together” Approach to Industry Growth

Dramatic advancements in the last decade have driven the global economy and greatly changed business and workforce requirements across the c-store sector. PDI believes vigorous education is one of the best ways for the convenience retail industry to continue to grow in a fast-changing business landscape.

“PDI’s ‘better together’ philosophy inspires us to develop strong partnerships and elevate the industry’s entrepreneurial efforts to the next level. This new program showcases our philosophy and allows us to invest in our customers and their leaders. PDI’s people-first approach combined with MIT’s top-notch academic resources and the industry expertise of NACS make this truly a one-of-a-kind program,” said Frangis.

Read More: Bitcoin SV (BSV) ‘Quasar’ Protocol Upgrade Continues Massive Blockchain Scaling, Lifting Default Block Cap to 2GB