By Richard L. Gaw
Staff Writer

Before a nearly sold-out Emilie K. Asplundh Concert Hall at West Chester University on March 14, the CEOs of four prominent Chester County-based companies engaged in an hour-long discussion about the pivotal issues shaping Southeastern Pennsylvania’s economy and future.

Held before some of the county’s leading business owners, elected officials, policy makers, educators and community stakeholders, “Executive Insights: A Panel of Visionary CEOs” invited Chris Gheysens, Chairman and CEO of Wawa; Salim Ramji, CEO of Vanguard; Leo Parsons, President and CEO of CTDI; and Madeline Bell, President and CEO of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) to share insight regarding economic growth, sustainability, corporate responsibility, education and transportation.

The event, moderated by 6ABC Action News anchor Tamala Edwards, was presented by the Chester County Chamber of Business & Industry (CCCBI), the Chester County Economic Development Council (CCEDC), Transportation Management Association of Chester County (TMACC) and West Chester University. Introductory remarks were made by incoming WCU President Dr. Laurie Bernotsky.

Chief ‘reassurance’ officers

Edwards began the discussion by asking the panelists to comment on the current economy of the U.S., which is experiencing a tsunami of fluctuation and potential volatility, due chiefly to the legislation, tariffs and immigration policies being initiated by the Trump administration. Ramji advised investors to remain vigilant to the ups and downs of the market.

“There is a tendency to overreact to the market, whether markets are up or whether the markets are down,” he said. “I think to the extent that people have a medium- to long-term horizon, our best investment advice is not to overreact and to stay the course. That’s what we’re telling our clients, along with making sure that their portfolios are balanced and have the right amount of stocks and bonds. It’s not about reacting to what happened last month or this week or next week, but to take a long-term view.”

Parsons and Bell said that the U.S. economy is still hindered by the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, an event that continues to force the CEOs to navigate their respective agencies and businesses through the up-and-down economic pendulum, while at the same time reinvent the mission of their agencies.

“In the last five years, we have dealt with so much, in terms of companies all dealing with the pandemic and the urgency it placed on all of our businesses, while continuing to provide service to our customers,” Parsons said. “What we found as leaders of the team was to remind ourselves about our disciplines and focus on how to get through its challenge, and that has served us very well.”

“The pandemic was challenging for all of us on the front line,” Bell said of her role at CHOP during COVID-19. “As a leader, I call myself a Chief Reassurance Officer. My goal [during the pandemic] was to reassure everyone that I was there for them, and that I was consistent in supporting them in any way I could. What does that look like? It’s about being more visible, listening more, having more town hall meetings, and making sure that people are hearing from me.”

Gheysen, who oversees more than 1,100 locations and 47,000 employees at Wawa, including more than 12,000 in Pennsylvania, said that “leaders internally provide stability, whether times are good or whether times are bad.” 

“Within the Philadelphia region, our Wawa stores see about a million customers a day, so they have a pretty good pulse of what’s going on with consumer behavior,” he told the audience. “This uncertainty over the last 12 to 18 months has led to consumers becoming worried about inflation – they have inflation fatigue - and that affects their confidence and their spending. 

“What we’re seeing in our food and retail is that people are shrinking what they’re getting. They used to get a ‘large’ and now they are getting a ‘small.’ They used to get three items and now they get two. They might have come in three times a week and now they’re coming in twice, and that’s behavior that is really a result of what is happening all around us.” 

During this period of economic uncertainty, Gheysens said that it will be crucial for Wawa to “lean into what people need, not just functionally but even emotionally,” he said. “You want them to feel welcome. You want them to feel a sense of calm and comfort.”

Workforce development and retention

The panelists also addressed how their companies are continuing to seek opportunities for growth and how they are helping to recruit and keep talent. At CHOP, Bell said its growth scale is driven by its goal to provide convenient accessibility to families throughout the southeastern Pennsylvania region, weighed against the constant challenge to provide qualified nurses and pediatric specialists. 

Gheysen said that the largest factor for growth at Wawa is to develop an internal investment of “culture,” and not grow merely on the basis of scale.

“When we talk about putting in hundreds more stores, we question if we are we going to outpace our ability to scale and water down our brand,” he said, “and that’s always how we think about scale – on the basis of our brand position, our brand promise and our ability to provide consumer service.”

The CEOs also addressed a question from Edwards about how their companies are strengthening employee retention and commitment.

“What we find is that we have to invest in them and get them invested in who we are as a business, and if we do a great job with that, they become engaged in what we are doing,” Parsons said. “We need to make sure our young and more mature talent is seeing the purpose and the opportunity in the work they are doing.”

The selection and retention of a talented workforce, Ramji said, requires providing constant reminders, reaffirmations and complicity to employees, melded with instilling “a strong sense of culture and a strong sense of purpose.”  

“It can’t feel like a job, whether you are pumping gas at a Wawa in New Jersey or if you are an investment officer at Wawa,” said Gheysen, who pointed to the company’s stock plans offered to every employee as an incentive. “It’s got to be about something bigger and having to do with making an impact.” 

Conflict management, emotional intelligence and financial literacy

Each of the CEOs were asked what changes they would make in contemporary education in connection with future employees and their role in the economic growth and societal impact of their respective agencies. Bell encouraged colleges and universities to expose students to conflict management education.

“When I look at our young nurses and physicians, they are on the front lines with people who are bringing their child to CHOP at the most stressful times a parent can imagine, and people are not at their best,” she said. “We are seeing an increase in workplace violence in hospitals toward physicians and nurses in hospitals. Many of our young staff do not have conflict management skills and we have tried to teach that on the job, but it is challenging. It sounds like a soft skill, but I think it’s a really necessary skill.”

Gheysen called for schools to help young people develop their “emotional intelligence.”

“You are moving across functions and disciplines in teams to get things done, so understanding self-awareness and how to interact with people is crucial,” he said. “Having emotional intelligence is almost as important - if not more important - than having technical skills.”

While acknowledging that there is a significant lack of financial literacy in contemporary society, Ramji said that Vanguard is developing classes in high schools that have already educated more than 1 million students that have introduced them to credit card management and investing.

“Beyond it providing a really good stable base for people when they start employment, it gets people to see things like finance as something much more accessible,” he said.  

To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, email [email protected].