Vice President, Research, Insights and Education

Full Time Alexandria, VA, US

Reporting to the President and CEO and serving as a member of the Executive Leadership team, the Vice President, Research, Insights and Education (VPRIE) leads NACS’s research education strategy, ensuring NACS remains the definitive source of knowledge, benchmarking and professional development for the convenience and fuel retailing industry.

The successful candidate will be a strategic, credible research and education leader who combines analytical rigor with a strong commercial and member-service orientation. They will elevate NACS’s research and benchmarking products, deepen member and industry insight, modernize and expand the association’s education portfolio and ensure technology and data serve as force multipliers for the organization’s strategic plan.

The VPRIE is responsible for the entire suite of NACS State of the Industry offerings and consumer and retail insights research; the organization’s business intelligence & data analytics platform; the full portfolio of NACS education and executive development programs across NACS events; the growing executive education program with top universities; and relationships with key data, insights and thought leadership groups engaged with NACS.

• Own the NACS State of the Industry enterprise platform as the industry’s premier benchmarking resources, ensuring data quality, timeliness, credibility and relevance.
• Set the multiyear research agenda, prioritizing studies and benchmarks that align with the NACS strategic plan and member needs.
• Expand NACS’s benchmarking portfolio, including human resources/talent benchmarking and category and merchandising performance, to reflect emerging member priorities and ensure insights products anticipate industry disruption.
• Lead consumer insights research tracking shopper behavior, purchase decisions, demographics and emerging trends across the convenience and fuel retailing channel.
• Translate research and data into actionable insights, trend reports and strategic guidance for member retailers, suppliers and NACS leadership.
• Develop and commercialize insights and business intelligence products and services.
• Represent NACS research externally to media, analysts, government bodies and industry stakeholders as an authoritative voice on convenience and fuel retailing.
• Support association advocacy through data collection and interpretation on issues such as payment card costs, nicotine, labor regulations, alternative fuels and other critical industry topics.
• Oversee the methodology, collection, processing, interpretation, data warehousing and presentation of NACS industry data and manage research deliverables against hard deadlines connected to industry events, publication schedules and advocacy activities.
• Serve as staff liaison to the NACS Research Committee, which includes retail members and supplier advisors, and work with the Committee to identify industry performance and trends, as well as macroeconomic, social, political and related retail-channel developments.
• Gather and report additional data needed to support NACS advocacy and consulting activities.
• Partner with data and analytics partners to strengthen and expand NACS market data offerings.

• Own the strategy and development of NACS’s education portfolio, including NACS Show education programming, the NACS State of the Industry Summit, Convenience Summit Europe and Asia and topical forums such as the Human Resources Forum.
• Lead and manage the Education team, setting priorities, assigning responsibilities, supporting team development and ensuring effective…