Stewart’s Shops Chief Operating Officer Chad Kiesow has been promoted to president of the family- and employee-owned convenience store chain, effective June 1, according to a company announcement.
Kiesow’s move to president was three years in the making, CEO Gary Dake said. It marks the first time in Stewart’s 80-year history that the convenience retailer has a president who is not part of the founding Dake family.
“Chad has been an integral part of the business since he joined us more than three decades ago,” Dake said in the announcement. “He understands our bottom-up culture and our focus on taking care of our people and the communities we serve.”
Kiesow joined Stewart’s in 1994 after the company acquired the Bonfare convenience store chain. He began managing Stewart’s gas department and moved to vice president of facilities prior to becoming COO over a year ago.
His promotion comes during a growth period for Stewart’s, which last year decided to sell its remaining shares in the business to the employees. This ownership transition will occur over the next 15 to 20 years. The company also made its largest acquisition in years in late 2024 by purchasing the 45-store Jolley chain, which operates in Vermont, New York and New Hampshire.
Kiesow said while it’s “an honor” to take on more responsibility with Stewart’s, his promotion to president “is not a sign of big changes.”
“I still have the same number of bosses that I had last week,” Kiesow said in the announcement. “The Dakes have never been shy and they are not the kind of leaders who will sit quietly on the sidelines.”
Besides his leadership role with Stewart’s — which currently operates about 360 stores in the Northeast — Kiesow serves on the boards of the New York Association of Convenience Stores, the Saratoga Regional YMCA and Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce.
