2024 Star Women in Convenience winner: Andrea Harrison

Account executive

Core-Mark International

How did you get into this business? 

By happenstance. I reported to a member of our senior leadership team at another organization for 10 years. He joined the Core-Mark family and encouraged me to come on board. Almost 15 years later, the rest is history! 

What are you most proud of from the last 12-18 months? 

Core-Mark was awarded the 2023 Culture Vendor Partner award by Shell Canada. I’m honoured and privileged to have had the opportunity to lead and support our teams in our Op Co’s, which resulted in us being presented with this award. 

What do you like most about your job?

I work for an organization that has given me the freedom, empowerment and support required to be successful in servicing our customers to or beyond their expectations.  I love that every day brings a new learning opportunity. Facing new challenges makes it fun and exciting and allows me to further develop existing problem-solving skills and learn new ones. 

What was the biggest challenge or your career?

Accepting the role of account executive in 2015. I had no account management experience, but customer service was in my wheelhouse, and I knew I was up for the challenge.

What's the best advice you ever received? 

Do everything with integrity, commitment and honesty. These core values are aligned with Core-Mark’s values, so joining the Core-Mark family almost 15 years ago was a no brainer for me.

What excites you most about the future of this channel? 

I’m excited to see how artificial intelligence will be integrated into the C&G channel. The possibilities are both exciting and frightening. I think it will provide a lot of opportunities, but I’m concerned it may cause the consumer shopping experience to feel dehumanized.