2025 Rowan University Commencement Address - Wawa CEO Chris Gheysens

Chris Gheysens is chairman and chief executive officer of Wawa, a chain of more than 1,100 convenience stores in nine states across the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions of the U.S. and Washington, D.C. Wawa is a family- and associate-owned, privately held company with more than 45,000 associates serving almost two million customers every day. The company began in New Jersey in the early 1800’s as an iron foundry and a cotton and textile mill and moved to Pennsylvania with the opening of a dairy plant in 1902. The original dairy was built in a rural section of Pennsylvania called “Wawa,” which was named by Native Americans to honor a favored game – the Canada goose. As home delivery of dairy declined and supermarkets became more abundant in the early 1960s, the concept to open Wawa convenience stores became a reality with the first in Folsom, Pa., in 1964. Gheysens, who’s been with Wawa for more than 27 years, was previously chief financial and administrative officer with responsibility for all financial, legal and human resource functions. Prior to joining Wawa, Gheysens was in the audit practice at Deloitte and Touche, LLP in Philadelphia. A graduate of Saint Augustine Preparatory School in Richland, he earned his Bachelor of Science in Accountancy from Villanova University School of Business and his Master of Business Administration from Saint Joseph’s University. Gheysens is a certified public accountant who was awarded an honorary Doctor of Leadership degree and the Beta Gamma Sigma Business Achievement Award from Saint Joseph’s University.