Schedule (Preliminary and Subject to Change)

The Intercontinental at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport

Wednesday, October 29

NATSO Foundation Fast Forward Focus Retail Tour
3:00 pm – 5:00 pm      

NATSO Foundation retail tours provide attendees with an opportunity to tour best–in–class retail locations, gather great ideas from successful travel center operators and network with other travel center operators in attendance! Attendees will tour the Kwik Trip Store #662 in Eagan, Minnesota. Pre-registration is required by October 8, 2025.

Dessert Welcome Reception 
8:00 pm – 9:30 pm      

Thursday, October 30

NATSO Foundation Board of Directors Meeting 
8:00 – 9:00                  

How to Best Appeal to Economic Developers: Executive Briefing with Breakfast
9:15-10:00 am    
Speaker: Aaron Brossoit, CEO, Golden Shovel      

When travel center companies embark on expansion, they must find the best location and persuade communities to invest in their vision. Golden Shovel Agency helps economic developers attract businesses, investment, and workforce talent to deliver economic growth for communities. Using his 20+ years of economic development expertise, Golden Shovel Aaron Brossoit, will advise attendees on how to best wow economic developers and some of the commonly available tools and resources for identifying the right location. 

Brossoit will share:

• What economic developers are looking for and how to put your best foot forward;
• Technology tools for analyzing traffic, regional assets and customer expectations;
• How to work with economic developers to find available land and incentives; and
• Tools to evaluate the long-term economic prospects of the surrounding area to ascertain potential for future growth and expansion.

How are Truck Stop and Travel Leaders Future-Proofing Their Food Business?: Panel Briefing
10:15-11:00 am         
Moderator: Christine Schoessler, NATSO COO

Food is a huge part of truck stops and travel centers’ offerings, and it continually helps locations stand out from the competition. What’s more, it is easier than ever for professional drivers to park their tractor-trailer and then head off-property for food. 

How are travel center industry food innovators evolving their food programs?

Hear from a panel of travel center industry innovators on how they plan to remain relevant amidst evolving consumer food habits, gain an inside look at their growth strategies, and hear about their future food plans.

Lunch and Table Discussions: Travel Center Technology Roadmap
11:15 – 12 pm
Moderator: Amy Toner, Executive Director, NATSO Foundation
Panelists: Tony Caputo, Director of Business Development, Warren Rogers; Erika Curtis, Delivery Lead, W. Capra; Meghann Erhart, Executive Vice President, Relay Payments; Jeremie Myhren, Cofounder and CIO, Onramp; Chris Oliver, Chief Marketing Officer, Trucker Path; Peter Rasmussen, CEO & Founder, Convenience & Energy Advisors

What technology does the travel center industry need?
What technology is poised to impact the industry drastically?  
What technology should you be investing in now?

The NATSO Foundation’s Technology Steering Council has developed a new Travel Center Technology Roadmap that will answer these questions and more.  

During the working session, the Steering Council will quickly present their findings, and then attendees will reflect on the roadmap and create new insights together with the industry power players at their table.

NATSO Board of Directors Meeting
12:15-4:15 pm         

Education at Fast Forward Focus is offered by the NATSO Foundation. The NATSO Foundation is the research education and public outreach subsidiary of NATSO Inc. Interested in speaking? Reach out to NATSO Foundation Executive Director Amy Toner at atoner@natsofoundation.org.