Stafford, VA – The Petroleum Convenience Alliance for Technology Standards (PCATS) is delighted to announce that Patrick Lewis, partner of Oasis Stop 'N Go Convenience Stores based in Twin Falls, Idaho, will take the helm as Chairman of the Board and Avsha Klachuk, director of marketing technology, Alon Brands based in Dallas, Texas, will serve as PCATS Vice Chair. The appointments were made following an election on January 21 during the Board of Directors Meeting at the 2010 PCATS Annual Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana.
As PCATS Chair, Mr. Lewis will lead the Association as it works to facilitate c-store industry technology standards initiatives and educate the retailer and supplier community about how utilizing common industry standards can provide significant business process improvements. “PCATS is well-known for its robust collection of standards, built upon a simple to understand, develop, and implement language, eXtensible Markup Language (XML), which has been tested and employed by various players within the industry,” said newly appointed PCATS Chair Pat Lewis. “However, PCATS does more to advance convenience and petroleum retailers by addressing current issues such as data security and payment card industry (PCI) compliance. As a retailer, it is important to have the essential tools to remain successful and profitable. In my role as Chair of the association, I plan to carry out the PCATS mission and assist with enabling connections and finding solutions.”
In his new role, Mr. Klachuk will concentrate his efforts on growing the membership base by ensuring that PCATS delivers valuable industry solutions and provides members with excellent customer service. Mr. Klachuk commented, "It’s a wonderful opportunity to play a leadership role with a key association at such a challenging economic time. I'm looking forward to working with the Board, building on the Association’s success to date and enhancing the quality of PCATS membership.” He added, “My involvement with PCATS since its inception and participation on various PCATS committees will serve me well in contributing to the growth of such a valued organization.” Mr. Klachuk will succeed current PCATS Chair Patrick Lewis when he steps down on completion of his term of office in 2011.
Mr. Lewis has been a member of PCATS since 2005 and has held elected positions giving him a full background and working knowledge of the Alliance’s goals and agenda. He co-founded Oasis Stop 'N Go Convenience Stores based in Twin Falls, Idaho in 1995. In addition, he has served on National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) leadership (Board service since 2006) and Chairs NACS' Technology Board Committee. Moreover, Mr. Lewis is CEO of KickBack Points LLC. KickBack was founded in 2000 as a way for Oasis Stop 'N Go to cultivate customer loyalty. KickBack has grown into a loyalty program provider that is now used by nearly 200 companies spanning 49 states and Canada. In the community, Mr. Lewis is active with many local charities such as the Boys and Girls Club, Muscular Dystrophy Association and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. He began his career in the convenience store industry in 1987 with Circle K Corporation. Mr. Lewis graduated from George Fox University with a degree in management and organizational leadership.
Mr. Klachuk is Director of Marketing Technology at Alon Brands, a subsidiary of Alon USA that operates over 300 convenience stores in Texas and New Mexico primarily under the 7-Eleven and FINA brands and is the largest 7-Eleven licensee in North America. He has served as a member of the PCATS Implementation Committee, Retail Business Requirements Committee (RBRC), Electronic Business-to-Business (EB2B) Committee, Retail Financial Transactions Committee (RFTC) and the Loyalty Working Group since their establishment and he is a current member of the Ad-Hoc Data Security Committee. He has held various management positions in the oil and energy industry for over 25 years. In his current position, he independently led the development and integration of cutting-edge fueling and point of sale systems which incorporates radio frequency vehicle identification and cellular-based mobile commerce technologies into the petroleum/c-store network as part of a comprehensive new state of the art marketing management system. Mr. Klachuk has been an active leader involved with many industry initiatives, work groups and organizations within the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS), Retalix Users Group, Israeli Petroleum Institute and the Israeli C-Stores/Petroleum Industry.
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About PCATS
The Petroleum Convenience Alliance for Technology Standards (PCATS) was founded in September 2003 to continue the development and maintenance of standards work initiated under the NACS Technology Standards Project. PCATS’ mission is to develop, maintain and assist members in the implementation of a variety of technology standards. With over 150 members, the group’s membership represents more than 22,000 convenience stores. Membership is open to any petroleum marketer, convenience store owner/operator, other retail channels, or any of their suppliers or vendors. For additional information regarding PCATS, please visit www.pcats.org/discover.