Dick Meyer is President of Meyer & Associates (M&A), a consulting firm specializing in the convenience store industry. An industry veteran since 1977, who leverages his experiences in high-level retailer and supplier executive positions, Meyer is considered a premier industry analyst and prognosticator. The majority of his Firm's assignments relate to longer-term strategies of clients directly or indirectly focused on the c-store industry. He also is a co-founder/partner of CSX LLC, the premiere industry benchmarking service.

M&A provides strategic services for retailers, suppliers and investment managers such as:

• Retailers - broad based strategic and financial reviews and planning; valuation/ strategizing on a myriad of engagements for the acquisition or sale of c-store chains or divisions; and assisting companies to identify/cure their vulnerabilities and leverage their inherent strengths.
• Suppliers - identify and accelerate market penetration strategies unique to their specific retailer offerings including: developing characteristics of general and specific target companies who are reasonable prospects for the client; designing and/or orchestrating communication strategies that help prospects understand why client products make dollars (and sense) for them and consumers; and ongoing education of suppliers' executives/field staff on important industry trends.
• Investment Managers - since 2004 Meyer has counseled a myriad of firms with significant current and/or potential financial positions in the industry. Providing public domain only information, complemented with his knowledge of industry dynamics and trends, Meyer's interpretation and critiques have proved a valuable resource to supplement the expansive internal research of these firms. His motivation is to help these capital resources make more informed decisions based on our industry's resilience and core strengths.

A synopsis of Dick's 30+ years experiences in the c-store arena follows:

• Retailer Experience - Eight years as Executive VP/CFO of PDQ Food Stores (Madison, WI) and its previous sister company, Pick Kwik Food Stores (Clearwater, FL). PDQ and Pick Kwik operated approximately 150 locations generating above industry volumes and profits. He has served on three Boards of Directors of chains with 30, 80 and 400+ stores.
• Industry Entrepreneur - Meyer's passion and optimism for his industry is evident by his (capital and sweat) equity investments in multiple retail ventures including: PDQ Food Stores and Open Pantry Food Marts of WI; c-stores/Subway operations in Puerto Rico; operating a Subway Food Court serving troops of the Joint Task Force on the Guantanamo Bay Cuba Naval Base; and a continuing interest in the development of Subway restaurants in Ireland. His ventures in supplier situations included ownership interests in dominant companies offering: POS/scanning; host software solutions; and CSX LLC, the largest on-line service providing industry-specific benchmarking services - CSX was purchased by NACS March 2007.
• Strategic & Turnaround Consulting - Over two decades, Dick has analyzed well over 50 companies for purchase or disposition by his employ and/or for clients. He's developed multiple valuations to help companies evaluate proceeds and strategies related to selling divisions and/or their chain; and he's been engaged by financial lenders/retailers to assist companies (e.g. Plaid Pantries in Beaverton, OR; Convenient Food Mart in IL; Kwickie in Macon, GA; Contemporary Industries, Inc., Omaha) with their reorganization efforts or to develop crisis-management strategies towards improving their financial health. His dissertations on "Dealing with Dawgs" have helped many retailers focus on their internal opportunities to divest of non-performing locations, while his articles "Should Chapter 11 be Chapter One" and "Symptoms of Stress" remain as relevant today as when these theses were developed.
• Trends Analyses & Interpretations - Meyer's views on industry dynamics - http://www.dickmeyer.com/publish.htm#trends - are viewed as "bold, instructive and leading edge" and include a growing track record of prognostications that became reality. Dick's espouses that "the answers are often right in front of us; we just have to take the time to focus on usual events that many people perceive as unusual."
• Technology Background - Six years as President/owner of two industry-leading software companies providing automated systems solutions in the areas of host and store level information management. These included ProfiMax (Dallas, TX) and C-Store Systems, Inc. (Bedford, TX), respectively. M&A has also assisted a myriad of other technology-driven companies wishing to serve the industry including Accenture and ViaLink.
• Branded Fast Foods - Triggered by his ongoing work for Subway International, since 1993, Dick became an Industry "expert" in the field of co-branding partnerships between c-store retailers and QSR (quick service restaurant) companies. By virtue of his strategic marketing and education-related work for Subway, he invested substantial research analyzing the motivations, benefits and synergistic opportunities of co-locating branded QSRs in c-stores. Subway's activities in c-stores and travel centers now exceed 3,500 locations with annual revenue about $1 billion.
• Industry Contributions - Dick enjoyed six years on the NACS Suppliers Board of Directors and served as its Chairman. Over the years, he has participated in mega research efforts for the trade. He is a co-author of NACS' initial Accounting Manual, a NACS Program Director and he's served on NACS' Metrics and State of the Industry Committees & their Finance sub-committee. Dick serves on the Board of Directors of CSX LLC, the benchmarking company he and his partners sold to NACS in 2007.
• Author/Speaker - Dick has authored many articles for the trade press and his views have been referenced in many other research documents. He has made numerous presentations to various c-store and petroleum marketing associations on a diversity of subjects including: strategic views on the Industry's direction; financial and operational barometers, including actionable benchmarking; managing to avoid Chapter 11; high-tech challenges to the c-store industry; the dynamics and implications of branded fast food partnerships; "Best Practices" for managing the cigarettes category in c-stores; and category management ideas for selling more "stuff."