People and place: QuikTrip’s winning culture combination

The convenience store has been ranked one of the best places to work for its diversity, giving back, managers, and more. Its President and CEO Chet Cadieux shares why at the Economic Club of Phoenix Luncheon on Feb. 22, 2018.

The convenience store has been ranked one of the best places to work for its diversity, giving back, managers, and more. Its President and CEO Chet Cadieux shares why at the Economic Club of Phoenix Luncheon on Feb. 22, 2018.

Chester (Chet) Cadieux III, a native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, is the Chairman, President, and CEO of QuikTrip Corporation, a regional gasoline/convenience store operation based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The company was founded in 1958 by his father, Chester Cadieux II, and is now the 33rd largest privately held company in the United States. QuikTrip has been included on Fortune’s list of “100 Best Companies to Work for in America” for 15 consecutive years.

With annual sales in excess of $9.1 billion, QuikTrip operates more than 725 stores primarily in major cities including Tulsa, Oklahoma; Kansas City, Kansas; Kansas City, Missouri; Wichita, Kansas; Des Moines, Iowa; St. Louis; Atlanta; Dallas; Phoenix; Tucson, Arizona; and most recently Greenville, South Carolina, and Charlotte, North Carolina. Nearly 60 percent of QuikTrip's 19,700 employees work full-time.

Besides serving as chairman of QuikTrip Corporation’s board, Cadieux served as chairman of the Tulsa River Parks Authority Board in 2010, as chairman for the Tulsa Metro Chamber of Commerce for 2007, and as chairman of the board for Tulsa Area United Way for 2013. He is also a director on the following boards: Sheetz, Inc. of Altoona, Pennsylvania; Bank of Oklahoma NA in Tulsa; Tulsa’s Future Oversight Committee; University of Tulsa; and the Committee of One Hundred in Tulsa. Cadieux also served as a board member of the National Association of Convenience Stores 2003 through 2004.

Cadieux graduated with a bachelor of science degree in business from the University of Tulsa in 1989. He began his full-time career with QuikTrip on the graveyard shift just after graduating. In August 2014, he celebrated his 25th year of service with QuikTrip. He is married and has two children. In his free time, he enjoys auto racing, snow skiing, and aviation.

Listen to his keynote presentation:

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