Jeannie Amerson is a highly experienced Executive Consultant at W. Capra, an end-to-end consulting and services business – driving high impact customer-first business transformation from high-level strategy through implementation. With more than 25 years in the convenience industry, she brings a wealth of expertise in digital marketing, loyalty programs, payments, category management, change management, and strategic growth. Known for her ability to translate strategy into tangible results, Jeannie is deeply committed to helping businesses thrive through innovation and practical solutions.

Throughout her career, Jeannie has held key leadership roles with prominent organizations such as Flash Foods, ZipLine Payments (now part of PDI), Circle K North America, and Impact 21 consulting. In her most recent role as Vice President of Marketing at Enmarket, she played a pivotal role in driving the company’s strategic marketing efforts, overseeing critical areas such as marketing, merchandising, foodservice, branding, digital initiatives, loyalty, and payments strategies.

As a strategic marketing executive, Jeannie excels at leveraging data to identify growth opportunities and develop actionable plans that enhance both sales and profitability. A natural leader and communicator, she is skilled at fostering collaboration between internal teams and external partners, ensuring alignment and driving success across all business functions.

Jeannie’s contributions to the industry have earned her multiple accolades, including the Top Women in Convenience Rising Star Award, the Top Tech Implementation Award, and the Best Loyalty Program Award. A frequent speaker at major industry events such as NACS, GACS, CSP Convenience Retailing University, and CSP Leadership events, Jeannie also serves on the NACS Content Committee and has been an active member of numerous tech boards focused on mobile, loyalty, and payments.

With nearly 20 years in convenience marketing, Anita Bichsel has been at the forefront of driving key marketing and loyalty strategies for Break Time. Since joining the company in 2012, Anita has played a pivotal role in building customer loyalty and keeping customers engaged in their mature program. Their 360° approach to loyalty ensures valuable buy-in from top to bottom and everywhere in between.

Dan Dillon is a dynamic marketing leader with a proven track record of driving brand growth, guest engagement, and revenue through innovative strategies. He founded D.Square Hospitality to bring his expertise to clients ranging from casual-dining to tech providers. His expertise spans digital marketing, strategic partnerships, promotional campaigns, and data-driven decision-making—resulting in measurable business success.

Dan started an engagement with TEAM Schostak Family Restaurants in 2022 then joined their team a year later as Vice President of Marketing for Olga’s Kitchen where he led multi-channel marketing initiatives that propelled traffic, loyalty, and brand awareness —fostering deeper guest connections and long-term brand equity. Results included six consecutive periods of positive comp sales, optimized off-premise strategies leading to record-breaking DSP sales, and stronger brand storytelling that resonated across digital, social, and PR channels.

With over two decades of experience in hospitality marketing, including leadership roles at the SaaS start-up Yumpingo and at TGI Fridays, Dan has a deep understanding of brand positioning, guest insights, and market trends. His passion for blending creativity with analytics has driven impressive results, including year-over-year traffic growth, millions in cost savings, increased spend per guest and countless more satisfied guests.

Mark Foulds is the Vice President of Digital Marketing & Consumer Engagement at Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux, where he leads the brand’s digital transformation, loyalty program initiatives, and guest engagement strategies. With a career spanning brand marketing, strategic planning, and digital innovation, Mark has played a key role in enhancing Walk-On’s brand positioning, off-premise capabilities, media strategy and guest experience.

Prior to his current role, Mark held leadership positions in digital marketing, loyalty, eCommerce, and consumer research, helping drive Walk-On’s evolution with new brand initiatives, leading-edge digital solutions, and data-driven customer insights. His expertise in digital strategy, building integrated digital experiences and cross-functional leadership has positioned Walk-On’s to enhance guest frequency and lifetime value.

Throughout his career, Mark has held key executive roles with prominent organizations, such as Dunkin’ and Inspire Brands. With over 15 yrs hospitality industry experience leading international digital transformation for such brands as Dunkin’, Baskin’ Robins, Jimmy John’s, Arby’s and Buffalo Wild Wings, Mark has a deep understanding of loyalty marketing, industry trends and how to leverage data and insights to build impactful loyalty programs that enhance guest experience and drive restaurant revenue.

When Mark is not shaping the future of restaurant digital marketing, in his spare time he enjoys being with his wife and their two sons and cheering on his favorite sports teams, especially his boys on the soccer pitch.

Raymond Hayes leads enterprise loyalty strategy at SPB Hospitality, home to brands like Logan’s Roadhouse, Old Chicago, and J. Alexander’s. With over a decade of experience spanning loyalty, digital marketing, and brand development, Raymond specializes in building data-driven programs that drive engagement, retention, and revenue growth. His leadership focuses on creating scalable, personalized guest experiences across a diverse brand portfolio.

Courtney Kociemba is a dynamic leader in customer strategy, lifecycle marketing, and digital engagement, currently serving as the Senior Director of Customer Strategy and Lifecycle Marketing at CAVA. With a wealth of experience driving marketing initiatives at top brands like Daily Harvest, Kendra Scott, Best Western, and PetSmart, she brings a deep understanding of how to leverage data and customer insights to build impactful loyalty programs and drive revenue.


Outside of her professional accomplishments, Courtney is also a proud resident of Austin, Texas. Living in the Austin area allows her to balance her career while appreciating the city's unique culture and outdoor lifestyle. Courtney's career highlights include optimizing customer lifetime value (LTV), enhancing personalization, and leading cross-channel marketing efforts across paid media, CRM, and loyalty programs. With a proven track record of delivering measurable results, she continues to make a significant impact in the world of customer strategy and marketing.

Started working in restaurants while in High School and College and got hooked on the hospitality industry.  After graduating with a Bachelors Degree in Pyschology, Jeff decided that he wanted to continue his career in restaurants by moving into Operations Management.  Before coming to SPIN! Jeff worked for International Dairy Queen as a Field Consultant, Red Lobster as a General Manager and also Lonestar Steakhouse as a General Manager. Joined SPIN! Pizza in 2008 as the General Manager of our second location in Lees Summit, MO.  Served as GM there and also at the Overland Park, KS location until assuming the position of Area Director.  Served in that position until SPIN! had grown to 6 locations, and then joined the SPIN! Concepts Corporate Office Team as a Special Projects Manager, which over time became the position of Director of IT & Operations Support.

Jeff's position has continued to expand due to the growth of SPIN! Concepts.  The company growth is fueled by SPIN! Pizza's continuing expansion into the Texas market and assuming management of restaurants on the GreatLIFE KC golf courses that parent company Midwest-Health owns.  SPIN! Concepts also has recently assumed management of Amigos Grill and Cantina in Kansas City, KS and Tortilla Ranch Mexican Grill in Overland Park, KS.  SPIN! Concepts is currently made up of 6 concepts -  SPIN! Pizza, Silo Modern Farmhouse, Blue Moose Bar and Grill, Crush Burgers-Pizzas-Spirits, Amigos Grill & Cantina and Tortilla Ranch Mexican Grill.

Jeff enjoys supporting the Ops teams with our current technology, and also expanding out our technology stack to increase efficiencies at our restaurants.  "Covid pushed restaurant technology ahead in leaps and bounds and it’s exciting to see what is out there that can continue to further our team’s ability to execute at a high level – allowing them to provide our guests an experience that makes them ask , Why would I go anywhere else?”

During his down time, Jeff enjoys spending time with his wife, daughters and grandchildren.

After 15 years in brand marketing and international franchise marketing at Pizza Hut, KFC, and TGI Fridays, Olga noticed that restaurant chains were getting proficient at collecting customer data, yet the skill of using that data for marketing seemed to be lacking in many organizations. Restaurant Loyalty Specialists, a boutique loyalty consulting firm, was founded right then.


We offer expertise in Loyalty and CRM for restaurant chains. The key principle is simple: find out what your guests already like, then give them more of that - at scale - to drive sales. Our clients range from 20 to over 800 locations. We work with any modern loyalty and CRM platforms, although most clients utilize Punchh, Paytronix, or Personica.


Olga was born in Moscow, Russia, and has lived and worked in Europe, Asia, and the US in the course of her career. She holds a Harvard MBA and a Georgetown LLM.

Andrea has spent her career seeing the marketing function from all angles: inside an association in DC, the publisher side with National Geographic, digital marketing lead at an advertising agency, client side as the marketing lead at a consumer brand and began in the c-store industry in 2020. She joined Coen Markets in early 2023 and began putting her stamp on the marketing strategy immediately working on branding and awareness with an omni-channel approach and ultimate conversion. She brings a deep understanding of digital marketing and the role it should play in an overall marketing mix and feels her varied background helps give a fresh perspective to the industry.

Andrea holds a B.S. in Integrated Marketing Communications from Ithaca College, and currently resides in Pittsburgh, PA with her husband and 2 young boys.

Erin Newkirk is an award-winning innovator with rich leadership in tech, food, retail, consumer packaged goods, and healthcare; spanning start-ups to growth companies to billion-dollar brands. She currently serves as the Chief Brand & Marketing Officer for Caribou Coffee. Erin and her team hold themselves accountable for how Caribou's brand comes to life across all touchpoints while keeping team, guests, and global responsibility as central guideposts.

Erin’s brand management career began at General Mills, after earning an MBA at the
Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. In 2005, Erin co-founded Red Stamp, a digital correspondence app. With over 2 million users and 10 million cards sent, Red Stamp was best known for its award-winning mobile app and was acquired in 2013 by Taylor Corporation, one of the largest privately held companies in the United States. Erin, who stayed on as Red Stamp’s CEO until 2016, recalls multiple meetings and strategy sessions at her local Caribou Coffee while building, launching, and selling that venture.

After leaving Red Stamp and before coming to Caribou Coffee, Erin served as the founding chief marketing officer at Minneapolis-based health insurance startup Bright Health, advised local food company Local Crate on their big-box retail transformation, and supported passionate founders of startups on how to work their best. She is an active speaker, mentor, advisor, and board member (TurnSignl).

As a 20+ year veteran of the convenience industry Eric has worked in various departments focused on all aspects of our business with stops in operations, engineering, IT and Marketing. Currently as Director of Marketing at Tri Star Energy he and the team oversees several c-store brands including Twice Daily, Sudden Service, Southern Traders, Little General and our premiere coffee brand White Bison. Eric and the team focus heavily on getting our guests in the door, getting them to add another impulse item to their basket, and through loyalty learning, the insights on what will motivate guests to keep coming back. Eric is a foodie hosting supper clubs and catering dinner parties. He enjoys spending time with his wife, kids and 3 dogs exploring all that our new state has to offer.

Jimmy Vanvalkenburg is the driving force behind PDQ Chicken's digital marketing strategy, assisting key areas such as the loyalty program, online ordering, local listings, email marketing, campaign execution, and customer service. He joined PDQ in 2018 as a marketing intern, quickly making an impact with his innovative approach and passion for growth. Since then, he has steadily advanced through the brand, playing a pivotal role in the evolution of the brand’s loyalty program and mobile app.
PDQ Chicken has experienced remarkable success in expanding its customer database, increasing guest engagement, and strengthening customer retention through targeted digital initiatives. His work has significantly contributed to driving repeat business and fostering stronger relationships with loyal guests, leading to increased visit frequency and a more robust digital presence for the brand.