Mary-Rose Hannum

Chief Product and Brand Officer, Wawa

Mary-Rose is the Vice President – Chief Product Marketing Officer for Wawa, Inc. a chain of more than 1,000 convenience stores located in five Mid-Atlantic States, Florida, Alabama, North Carolina and Washington, DC. Wawa is a family and associate-owned, privately held company with more than 47,000 Wawa associates providing convenient and friendly experiences for over 2 million customers every day. Wawa ranks: 20th on Forbes’ annual ranking of America’s Largest Private Companies, top 7 Convenience Retailer in the country, among the top ten largest Employee Stock Ownership Plans in the country in terms of participation and is one of Forbes Best Brands for Social Impact in 2023.

The company began in the early 1800’s in New Jersey with an iron foundry and a cotton and textile mill and migrated to Pennsylvania with the opening of a dairy plant in 1902. Wawa’s original dairy was built on land located in a rural section of Pennsylvania called “Wawa” which was named from local Native Americans in honor of their favored game – the Canada goose. As home delivery of dairy declined and supermarkets became more abundant in the early 1960’s, the concept to open Wawa convenience stores became a reality with the first store opening in Folsom, PA on April 16, 1964.

Currently, Mary-Rose is responsible for the strategy and execution of the Wawa foodservice brand, which is nearly a $2 billion business, including Wawa’s core brands – coffee and fresh beverages, Sizzli breakfast sandwiches, and hoagies. Mary-Rose leads the fresh food and beverage categories. This team works with internal and external partners to oversee the fresh food and beverage offer, creating brand engagement, determining advertising and promotional strategies, and helping to continuously strengthen the brand.

Before joining Wawa, Mary-Rose worked at both Arthur Anderson and Ernst & Young in retail consulting. Mary-Rose graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Science in Economics. Mary-Rose is committed to supporting some of Wawa’s most meaningful community events including Wawa Welcome America, Operation Brotherly Love, USO Care Package Assembly, and many other efforts big and small, that make an impact on the communities the Company serves.

Mary-Rose serves on the Board of the Wawa Associates in Need Fund.
She resides in a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with her husband, Buzz, and their daughters, Lily and Poppy.