Chris Gheysens, the chief executive officer of Wawa, will deliver Rowan University’s main commencement address May 10.
Part of the Wawa team for more than 27 years, Gheysens previously served as chief financial and administrative officer, overseeing all financial, legal and human resource functions.
A 1993 graduate of Villanova University’s School of Business with a Bachelor of Science in Accountancy, Gheysens earned his Master of Business Administration from Saint Joseph’s University, which awarded him an honorary Doctor of Leadership degree and the Beta Gamma Sigma Business Achievement Award in 2022. Gheysens is a Certified Public Accountant in New Jersey and a graduate of Saint Augustine Preparatory School in Richland.
Wawa began in the early 1800s as a South Jersey iron foundry and moved to Pennsylvania to open a dairy plant in 1902. Wawa opened its first retail store in Folsom, Pa., in 1964 and today owns and operates more than 1,100 stores in nine states. Family- and associate-owned, Wawa is a privately held company with more than 45,000 employees that serves nearly two million customers each day.