Category Management Leader: Bolger Thrives at Thorntons

As the senior category manager of fuel pricing for Louisville, Ky.-based Thorntons, Shaun Bolger’s primary objective is optimizing retail pricing within the fuel space for the c-store chain’s more than 200 stores in six states: Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee.

“Digging deeper,” he said, “this branches into a number of subcategories to include rationalizing pricing decisions, competitor benchmarking, brand and product strategy, guest experience and fuel loyalty, demand forecasting and P&L (profit and loss) management. This all entails a strong emphasis on analytics and product management.”

No two days are the same, Bolger said, noting that the role requires a certain personality. “The fact that every day is different, along with the notion that you can be very ‘entrepreneurial’ within this space, have been key drivers,” he said. “Additionally, I’m very competitive with myself, so there’s always a constant desire to outperform internal KPIs (key performance indicators) as well as the competition.”