Sheetz Chief Innovation Officer Encourages Pushing Innovation Boundaries
Scott Institute welcomed Mary Beth Green this October as part of the fall Distinguished Lecture series. As Chief Innovation Officer of Sheetz, the $7.2 billion convenience store chain spanning multiple states, Green offered her expertise on the process of innovation—inspiring audience members to capture their creativity and passion in their work.
Offering a historical perspective on Sheetz’ development of innovation, Green explained the process and best practices for pursuing commercialization of technology. One of the hallmarks of innovation, according to Green, is simply recognizing a need in a community. Giving the example of the first Sheetz endeavor selling milk for farmers, Green highlighted the simplicity and efficacy of the notion. Green then continued to give examples of the ways in which Sheetz is preparing for the future and the challenges that accompany it. From user-focused hardware and software to charging stations for electric vehicles, Sheetz goal is to be ahead of the future and “future-proof” itself in the business environment.
In addition to identifying needs, Green explained the process for scaling up innovations. Collaboration with all levels of the team, strategic planning and a clear understanding of present and upcoming challenges prepare innovations for development on a larger scale.
By creating a strategic approach and fostering cohesive teams, people can tackle challenges with confidence and a clear vision. Through key characteristics—curiosity, empathy, storytelling and logic—Green explained how to incorporate diverse perspectives and stakeholders into decision-making, pushing innovation through boundaries. Creating teams with these characteristics is crucial to achieve innovative technologies and processes.
“We are really focused on the success of Sheetz and it’s the entrepreneur history-- transforming that and really creating this innovation effort that will take things to a whole new level, a very sustainable effort at commercializing some of our business concepts and we believe that this will continue to put us in the realm of game-changing in the years and decades to come,” Green described Sheetz, their teams and processes.
Green was enthusiastic to share her experiences with the audience, from students to faculty and beyond, encouraging everyone to focus on people, processes and pathways to develop sustainable innovation. Emphasizing not only a technological or business perspective, Green was also adamant to include emotions, stakeholders and customers as part of the solutions to challenges. Incorporating the recommendations and experiences of Green’s expertise, innovating creative solutions to the world’s problems seem much more attainable.
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Chief Innovation Officer, Mary Beth Green, is charged with innovating for one of the country’s largest retail and gas companies, Sheetz. With a rich history of innovation, over 600 locations, and as one of Fortune’s top companies to work at – Sheetz has a bold vision for innovation as the company aims to “create the business that will put it out of business.”
Mary Beth Green is an accomplished, c-suite innovation leader and change agent, whose passion and expertise fuels growth by attracting top talent and by commercializing innovation. She identifies opportunities and champions strategic initiatives that transform business.
Mary Beth’s successful executive career includes leading business development, marketing and now innovation, most recently as Chief Innovation Officer at Sheetz, a $7.2 billion convenience store chain with more than 600 locations across six states. She is a successful entrepreneur, product strategist and process improvement professional who has driven sales growth up to 50 percent and margin growth up to 20 percent for companies ranging from a consulting startup to a Global 500 healthcare giant.
A lifelong learner, she earned an MBS in Marketing, Strategy and Entrepreneurship from CMU - Tepper School of Business and an MPIA in Public and International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh and a Bachelor of Economics degree from the University of Illinois.