Michael Gade's career success a matter of convenience

Michael Gade has long understood the importance of consumer behavior and convenience. By age 15, he had managed multiple paper routes, a snow removal/lawn care business and a franchised restaurant ― and he was on his way to the C-suite of one of the world’s most recognizable brands. 

So, the proliferation of convenience and fuel retail stores like 7-Eleven, Buc-ee’s, Sheetz and Wawa today makes perfect sense to Gade. 

“Successful companies are forward-looking and staying up with consumer trends. Convenience stores are driving people to the store for quality food, rather than the more traditional cigarettes and beer,” said Gade, a former executive at 7-Eleven. “A good executive has to ask, where are we today, what are our strengths, and what do we have to do today to prepare ourselves for tomorrow?”

Those questions were instrumental to Gade’s successful career in the convenience store industry ― a career that was recently honored with his selection as Fisher’s 2025 Pace Setters Executive Award recipient.

Gade (BSBA ’74, MBA ’75) got his start after graduation with Management Horizons, a consulting organization founded by Ohio State marketing professors, which led Gade to becoming president and CEO of Retail Planning Associates in Columbus. He later joined Coopers & Lybrand, now PwC, as chairman of retailing and consumer products. At PwC, he built relationships with companies like Kraft, P&G, Walmart and 7-Eleven. He ultimately led the 7-Eleven team that raised the nearly 100-year-old company out of bankruptcy and back into consumers’ hearts.

“We totally restructured the company. We introduced stronger franchising, new products and new technology,” said Gade, who, as senior vice president of merchandising and chief marketing officer, also helped hire the company’s current CEO, Joseph DePinto. Today, 7-Eleven has 88,000 stores globally, and Gade predicts the number will rise to 100,000 by 2030. 

Even the iconic Slurpee got a makeover while Gade was watching. Among the many other changes in convenience store offerings, the popular frozen beverage added a zero-sugar alternative to its lineup to satisfy health-conscious consumers.

Charting the consumer's day

Two significant changes in consumer behavior helped reshape ― and ultimately restock ― the convenience and fuel retail stores, Gade said. Hybrid and electric vehicles, coupled with higher fuel emissions standards, lowered the demand for gas, and attention to healthier lifestyles reduced cigarette sales. 

With gas and cigarette sales down, industry leaders developed a strategy to meet consumer demand for other products: coffee in the morning, fresh sandwiches and salads at lunch, sweet snacks for kids after school, and single and family-sized meals in the evening. Gade and his colleagues call it “the four day-part strategy,” and generating products for each part of the day drives sales and success.

“The name of the game today is grab-and-go food for immediate consumption or consumption at home,” said Gade. 

It’s one of countless career takeaways he shares with undergraduate and graduate students nationwide. Gade taught a capstone course for 15 years at the University of North Texas, and he still lectures there and at Fisher College of Business. His methodology of connecting students with major corporations to solve real-life problems and identify opportunities was once featured in the International Journal of Higher Education. 

Gade retired in 2024 from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) as a senior advisor, but he continues to serve as a consultant on several BCG projects. He also sits on the boards of ARKO Corp., one of the largest convenient store operators and a Fortune 500 company; Imagine, a print and advertising company of Cerberus Capital Management; and Safe Security, a leading cybersecurity company. He previously served 15 years on the boards of Rent-A-Center and the Crane Group.

He joined his first board at age 34 and soon established a clear philosophy about board membership.

“If I can’t add value and don’t have expertise and relevance that shows me what is happening to the industry, I’m not going to even consider it. I believe board members have to be informed, and they have to be current,” he said. 

Putting family first

Gade also lives and works by the philosophy of family first, no matter where you’re at in your career.

“Someday retirement comes, or someone says, ‘You don’t fit in the organization’ or ‘We sold the company.’… No matter how hard you work, things happen in life. Where do you go? You go to your family,” he said.

Together with his wife, Regina, the Gades have two adult children; Meaghan, who earned her PhD from Ohio State in environment and natural resources, is a program manager with the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies. Their son, Matthew, works for JPMorgan Chase in New York City.

Gade also volunteers his time providing financial and investment advice to Olympic hopefuls and other athletes who train at Utah Olympic Park (UOP) in Park City, where the Gades have a ski-in, ski-out home. The area is teeming with athletes who hope to compete in the XXVII Olympic Winter Games in 2034 in Salt Lake City. Regina trains, tests and certifies ski patrol at UOP. 

He credits his own family, in part, for his path into business ― and eventually education. Gade’s father ran a small meat market in Cleveland. His mother was a teacher. As a young entrepreneur, Gade managed two Plain Dealer paper routes and shoveled snow for his customers in the Cleveland suburb of Seven Hills. Seeing an opportunity for growth, he upgraded from a snowblower to a Jeep with a plow when he was old enough to drive. In summers, he worked at a Dairy Queen in Parma, becoming the store’s manager at age 15. 

Studying business at The Ohio State University, where his older brother attended dental school, was a natural progression for Gade.

Today, he happily reels off the names of his former professors and their impact: Roger Blackwell and Dave Kollat, who co-authored the seminal textbook “Consumer Behavior” that Gade and his classmates used; Bill Davidson, author of the leading textbook about retailing; Alton Doody, a leader in store design and planning; and Wayne Talarzyk, who taught Gade the importance of research. 

“There is no question had I gone to another university, my life would be totally different. I wouldn’t have had the influence of the professors, the businesses they started and the recommendations they made,” said Gade.

“Fisher gave me the tools and Management Horizons, PwC, and 7-Eleven gave me the credibility. I have been very blessed in my career.”