C-Store Training Instructor BiosClick Names Below to View Bios

Mark Wells Bio

Mark Wells started in the Service Station Industry with Texaco Oil in 1978 as a lessee/dealer. The challenges and trials of operating a full service bay facility during the height of the oil embargo were instrumental in forming Mark’s concepts for training new retailers.

From 1982 to 1998, Mark was affiliated with Marathon Oil and operated multiple high volume gasoline, TBA and C-Store operations. During this time he honed his skills in operations and promotions to become one of the top volume retailers for Marathon. His management successes, business systems techniques, and promotional initiatives have been featured in numerous trade publications such as Super Service Station and Service Station Management. These management skills and contributions gained him a nomination as the Small Business Man of the Year for the State of Indiana in 1995.
Mark became affiliated with LJT Management Services in 1991 as an outside consultant and trainer. In 1998, Mark was named Executive Vice President of LJT Management.

In August of 2004, Mark became president of LJT Management.
Because of his extensive personal experiences in hands-on service station and convenience store management, he has been able to share his perspectives and experiences with over 15,000 retailers, operators, and employees in numerous training environments. His innovative station level promotions as well as employee incentive and commission programs have been taught and implemented at sites nationwide. He has been a developer and facilitator of various retailer training programs for numerous major Oil companies including Marathon, Amoco, BP, Texaco, Shell, and Chevron. He is also a major developer of LJT Management’s cashier training programs which includes both classroom and web based training.

Mark is consistently active within the service station communities as an on-site consultant for existing as well as new facilities, convenience stores, car washes, and quick service restaurants. His entrepreneurial approach to service station and convenience store management enables him to build attainable business plans as well as successful operational systems for new and existing locations.

As a result of LJT Management’s connection with NACS, LJT has been able to form training relationships with PetroChina in China as well as Seicomart in Japan.

Mark believes that in order to consistently meet the customers’ ever growing expectations, and to succeed in the very challenging retail oil industry it is imperative that operators continually seek to expand their knowledge of industry business trends, accept new and exciting retailing ideas, and strive to improve employee customer service skills with the ultimate goal being increased gross profits.

Bonnie Wells Bio

Bonnie Wells’s earliest memories seem to evolve around the retail gasoline industry. To get to her house, you turned at the Cities Service Station. Saturday mornings involved a visit to Grimmer’s 66 Service with her dad, who also worked for Phillips as a delivery driver. When the neighborhood kids walked to school, they would cut through Moon Mullin’s Standard Station. A right of passage was jumping over the open air oil change pit. It was greasy and deep and sure to hold at least one forgotten dinosaur. No one ever fell in, but they all jumped it at least once. Bonnie’s future husband worked as a gas jockey at the local Marathon Station, where she always needed to fill up her old Ford. It seemed inevitable that retail gasoline would somehow play a part in her future life.

Bonnie graduated in December of 1977 with a B.S. in Business Management from Purdue University. She quit her waitress job and immediately married that gas jockey. They opened Crown Point Texaco/Firestone on May 24, 1978 as new dealers. By 1982 the opportunity to purchase the local Marathon Station came to be. By 1988 they took over another Marathon Station converting it to a Convenience Store and closed the Texaco operation. Bonnie ran the C-Store while her husband ran the Bay operation. All this was in addition to raising their three children.

In 1999 Bonnie started work for LJT as Special Projects Administrator. She now is the Office Manager as well as a trainer. She uses her hands-on experience to better connect with her students. She knows that learning business management in a book is no comparison to learning it in the real world.

Bonnie has been married for over 30 years, has three grown children and 4 grandchildren. She enjoys an occasional round of golf and gardening.

Mark Horne Bio

Mark Horne has operated successful high volume service stations and convenience stores in Arizona and California. His experience also includes owning and operating an automotive garage and car rental franchise.

After graduating from Arizona State University, Mark provided direction for E.K. Williams & Co., as VP of marketing and training and has conducted seminars and training workshops for major oil companies since 1973.

Mark has served as an expert witness in high profile industry litigation where his financial knowledge of the business is among the industry leaders.

Mark Horne has developed customized training programs for most of the major oil companies and two of the largest Quick Service Restaurant chains in the United States, McDonald’s and Jack-in-the-Box.
Mark has developed and conducted workshops in Europe and Eastern Europe for major International oil companies.

Mark has traveled internationally on contract to Chevron Overseas Petroleum and Texaco.

In addition, Mark has served on the Board of Directors of the National Tire Dealer Association. He has often been published in numerous industry journals, including National Petroleum News, Convenience Store People and others. Mark has also been a speaker at conventions including NACS, and State and Local conventions. His expertise includes C-Store Marketing, Merchandising, Category Management, and the economics of Convenience Stores, Hypermarkets, and Food Services.

Sid Gregory Bio

Sid Gregory is President of Gregory & Associates, an independent consulting firm as well as part owner of an accounting and tax office in Seattle, Washington. Prior to having his own consulting company, Sid used his management skills as President of the Business Services Division, Triple Check Income Tax Corporation and as Vice President of operations at E.K. Williams & Co., where he directed the training for franchisees, seminar development for clients, and a variety of specialized seminars for Chevron, BP Oil, Sunoco, Mobil, Texaco and Unocal. As a finance graduate of the University of Washington and the Pacific Coast Banking School, and former President of an independent bank in Kirkland, Washington, Sid has used his training and experience to successfully own and operate three accounting and tax offices, six convenience stores, and consult with thousands of independent petroleum retailers on issues critical to their business.

In addition, he has consulted with a number of franchise companies that include: Subway, Dairy Queen, Sears, Baskin Robbins, Round Table Pizza, Alpha Graphics, and America Speedy Print.

Evan Pigford Bio

Evan Pigford began an extensive career in the oil industry, after attending Cabot College in Hayward and a tour of duty with the United States Navy.

Evan’s experience includes working in service stations, managing service stations, and was employed by a major oil company for the last 10 years in automotive service.

In addition, Evan was responsible for working one-on-one with service station dealers to help build their service bay sales and profits, and is highly thought of by a large number of Unocal dealers whom he helped with their business growth.

Evan’s hands-on experience in service development, service writing and advising and mechanical knowledge place him in high demand with service bay operators of all brands.

He began his career with the oil company as Assistant Manager, where he supervised daily operations, sales of gasoline and service bay work. He then became a Retail Representative where his responsibilities included, lease duties, sales goals, conducting dealer changes and sales promotions.

Larry Hall Bio

Larry Hall started his career with Texaco Oil Co., in 1972 after graduating from Lamar University with a BBA in Marketing. By 1981 he was the Assistant Manager of Training at the Port Arthur Refinery in charge of new hire training for approximately 2,500 employees. He also was a short course instructor for Lamar University and Louisiana State University from 1983 through 1994.

In 1984 he was promoted to Training Manager of the Louisiana Plant in charge of all training for 500+ employees.

His duties ranged from hiring new employees to developing new training programs. He was involved with appraisals, discipline and testing. He was also the EEOC officer and administered the drug/alcohol program.

Larry was promoted and transferred to the Texaco/Shell marketing division in 1995. He retired from that position in January 2003.

Larry has been married for over 30 years and has two grown children.

J. Gregory Price Bio

J. Gregory Price (Greg) graduated from Purdue University in 1975 with a degree in Finance and Marketing. He joined the family business of Price Realtors in 1977 and continued in the field.

Greg is now President/CEO of Prudential Partners Real Estate. He serves as director of the Indiana Association of Realtors and Director of the Greater Northwest Indiana Association of Realtors. He has numerous service awards including the Honor Realtor award for 10 consecutive years. Greg serves on the Executive Committee and Board of Directors for the local chapter of the American Red Cross.

Greg’s ease in front of an audience has worked well to his training for LJT Management. He knows what he expects as Best in Class service in his Realty Staff. SO he sets those same goals in his training of what he expects in a successful C-Store environment.

Greg also consults for LJT in ground up site locations and contract negotiations for land/building purchases.

Greg is married and has 2 sons and 5 grandchildren.

Ken Dunkley Bio

Ken Dunkley is a food industry executive with over 30 years of experience in product development, food manufacturing, restaurant marketing, and co-branding. A native of California, Ken is a Food Science and Microbiology graduate of the University of California, Davis. Throughout his food industry career Ken has focused on developing food products and retail concepts that address consumer demand for convenient, ready-to-eat foods and healthier foods. A key strength is his ability to identify food service and marketing opportunities for convenience store and gasoline retailers, and to create profitable programs to capitalize on consumer needs and expectations for quick, high-quality, good-value prepared food.

Ken began his food industry career by starting and operating a wholesale/retail baking company in Santa Barbara, California, in 1971. His company produced and distributed a complete line of whole grain bakery products to grocery stores, restaurants and contract food service accounts. Among his noteworthy product innovations were whole wheat Santa Barbara Sourdough and Pritikin Bread. During this time Ken developed a keen interest in healthy food trends.

In the early 1980's Ken joined The Good Earth Restaurants where he managed menu development, quality assurance, and bakery operations. This gave Ken first-hand experience with restaurant operations from procurement, to preparation, to customer service.

In 1983 Ken joined Jack in the Box in San Diego and was responsible for product development at a time when the fast food company successfully repositioned itself to target adult customers. Ken managed Research & Development for 10 years, creating many industry-first new products including the grilled sourdough burger and the fajita pita. He broadened his background by moving into Product Marketing, and later into Restaurant Development where he was responsible for co-branding. In this position he created Quick Stuff, the company's proprietary convenience store concept, and developed over 35 new Jack in the Box/ Quick Stuff/ branded-gasoline locations owned and operated by Jack in the Box Inc. He also led the development of 44 co-tenant restaurants partnered with c-store/gasoline retailers. During Ken's 22 years at Jack in the Box his executive management responsibilities involved leading strategic programs in product development, marketing and co-brand development, all of which created significant profit growth and expansion for the company.

In 2005 Ken started Quick Food Consulting www.quickfoodconsulting.com to help convenience store and restaurant companies create or fine-tune their prepared food and co-branding programs. Ken's background in both the quick service restaurant and convenience store industries gives him a unique perspective and ability to identify opportunities and create solutions to improve customer convenience and increase profit.

Steve Montgomery Bio

Steve is president of b2b Solutions, a consultancy that specializes in working with retailers and suppliers in the convenience retail/petroleum marketing industry. He has over 30 years of experience in top management positions in both entrepreneurial and large corporate business environments within the convenience retail/petroleum marketing industry.

After beginning his career as one of its franchisees, Steve served as President and Member of the Board of Directors for Dairy Mart Corporation. He then held the positions of General Manager for C-Stores and Manager of Convenience Retail Strategies and Programs for Amoco Oil Company.

He led Amoco’s efforts to develop and roll out their state of the art Split Second concept and to consolidate their various direct retail operations into a single entity. While at Amoco, he was also a member of its Retail Systems Steering and Facility Design Coordination Committees.

Steve has been actively involved with the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) since 1976. He is the only person to have been elected to Retailer Board and Supplier Board of Directors. He is current a member of its Membership Committee.

He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Agricultural and Food Economics from the University of Massachusetts, and a MBA in Marketing from W. New England College. He currently serves as a member of its International Business Advisory Board.

Steve is a frequent contributor to articles on the convenience retail/petroleum marketing industry and is a frequent speaker at industry functions. He has worked with NACS as a Program Director and Program Moderator on topics ranging Foodservice to the Non-Traditional Competitors.

b2b Solutions retail clients have ranged from single store operators to large multinational firms. These include such companies as Chevron USA Products Company, Crescent Oil Company, Exxon Company USA, LG-Caltex, Lekkerland (Switzerland) Ltd., Mobil Oil Corporation, Murphy Oil USA, Pride Convenience, Inc., and Shell Canada Products Limited. Supplier clients include Coca-Cola USA, Food Concepts, Inc., Harmonic Systems, Inc., Nestlé, Mars, Kraft Foods, MGC Communications, Inc., and Westec Interactive. Examples of trade organizations Steve has worked with include, NACS, Royal Buying Group, SIGMA, Shell Marketers’ Association, and various state associations.

Michael E. Mittleman Bio

Mike Mittleman is a leading authority and highly recognized consultant in the Convenience Store Industry. He began his career with Marathon Oil Company after graduating from Western Michigan University in 1971, majoring in Industrial Marketing.

Mike’s successful career with Marathon spanned over 35 years where he was involved in a number of challenging positions. He started in Marathon’s Retail Brand Division and later operated under a variety of different brands through Marathon’s subsidiaries, predominantly with Speedway SuperAmerica. During his illustrious career, Mike held positions ranging from District Manager and Corporate Manager of Merchandising to Division President where he had been directly responsible for over 800 Speedway SuperAmerica Convenience Stores.

Mike is a recognized speaker in the areas of Brand Image, Customer Service and Marketing for Success. He also utilizes his vast knowledge of the Convenience Store Industry to consult with owners on a one on one basis, helping them to ultimately achieve maximum profitability.

Bill Ritter Bio

Bill Ritter is a native of Toledo, Ohio where after graduating from high school he served in the United States Air Force. After receiving an honorable discharge in 1972 Bill returned to Toledo and attended the University of Toledo majoring in Criminal Justice. In 1974, Bill attended Gormac Polygraph School, Pasadena, California and after graduation began Ritter & Associates. Bill's career has been devoted exclusively to retail loss prevention and specific loss investigations for the convenience store industry. During his 27-year career he has conducted in excess of 8,000 investigations and interviewed over 40,000 employees for various convenience store companies. These investigations and interviews have led to successful prosecutions and well over $4,000,000 in restitution. Bill is a nationally recognized speaker and work shop leader, specializing in the area of convenience store loss prevention and consults with companies, both large and small, regarding all areas of loss prevention.