Meet the Staff | Conexxus

Gray Taylor

Executive Director

Gray literally grew up in the convenience store industry with the opening of the family’s first convenience store in 1963. Involved in the family business, comprised of 87 stores, he gained experience in all phases of convenience store and chain retail operations.

Gray has been involved on a variety of projects, including heading global product management for three of the world’s largest retail petroleum equipment and systems suppliers and Vice President of Research & Technology for the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS). Gray managed product portfolios that included payment platforms for EMV migration markets from Malaysia to Canada, as well as mobile/RFID payments initiatives. Gray also established NACS’ card payments program which saved the industry $60M in its first year of operations, and currently serves over 1,500 stores, doing 100m transactions annually.

Gray lives in Georgetown, TX and can be reached at +1 512.508.3469, or [email protected]

Linda Toth

Managing Director

Linda oversees all day-to-day operations of Conexxus. In addition, she advocates on behalf of the convenience industry at EMVCo, the US Payments Forum (formerly the EMV Migration Forum) Petroleum Working Group, and the National Conference on Weights and Measures. Linda participates in the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), ANSI X9 subcommittees working on payments, and is facilitator for the Petro SIG at the Merchant Advisory Group (MAG).

Linda graduated from North Carolina State University with a BS in Electrical Engineering. Prior to joining the Conexxus staff in 2011, she worked for 7 years at VeriFone’s Petro division developing POS software and for 15 years at OPW Fuel Management Systems designing automatic tank gauge and leak detection equipment and software. She has been engaged with Conexxus/PCATS since its inception, holding various leadership roles within the Device Integration Committee and its working groups. Linda currently resides in Clearwater, Florida and can be reached at +1 727.631.5536 or [email protected]

David Ezell

Director of New Initiatives

David’s responsibilities include the surveying of new technologies such as those comprising the Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR4.0), and promoting the use of Conexxus standards, both existing and new, in these trending technology environments. David continues to represent Conexxus at the World Wide Web Consortium, which he has been a part of since 2002. He has led several committees at W3C and is currently a co-chair for the Web Commerce Interest Group and serves on the Advisory Committee.

David has been involved in NACS Technology, PCATS, and Conexxus standards work since 1998, including chairing the POS/Back Office Committee, and served on the Board of Advisors from 2011 through 2018. More recently, David has advocated for the adoption of open API architecture as a powerful way to implement Conexxus standards.

David joined the Conexxus staff January 1, 2019. Prior to joining Conexxus, David was a Principal Software Architect in the Petroleum division at Verifone, specializing in requirements gathering, use case centric design, and XML data design and processing.

David lives in Tampa, Florida, and can be reached at +1.727.808.4918, or [email protected]

Ann Zecca

Manager,

Membership and Administration

Ann is the meeting planner for all Conexxus events, including the Conexxus Annual Conference, Annual Strategy Conference, and technology field trips. In addition, she oversees membership processing and handles administrative duties for Conexxus.

Joining the staff in 2003, Ann is one of the original staff members of Conexxus/PCATS. Previously, she worked in accounting as well as contemporary art sales and management. Ann lives in Virginia Beach, VA and can be reached at +1 703.518.7963 or [email protected].

Kim Seufer

Standards Manager

Kim rejoined the Conexxus staff in in July 2022, and previously worked with Conexxus from July 2016 to March 2022. She works closely with many of the Conexxus committees and working groups to advance standards for the industry, as well as working with Conexxus surveys.

Kim graduated from Appalachian State University in 2012 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Spanish Language. Prior to working for Conexxus, Kim worked in real estate property management and as a graduate research assistant at Pennsylvania State University.

Kim resides in Winston Salem, North Carolina and can be reached at (336) 707-8918 or [email protected].

Casey Brant

Standards Coordinator

Casey joined the Conexxus team in April of 2022. She works closely with many of the Conexxus committees and working groups to advance standards for the industry, as well as assisting with the website and other administrative tasks.

Casey graduated from Florida State University in 2020 with a Master of Science in Information. She gained experience using metadata and standardization through her work with the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education, People Connect Institute, and Novare Library Services. Prior to joining the Conexxus staff, Casey worked in project management and administration through her position as Head of Reference and Information Services in the Pinellas County Library System.

Casey currently resides in Tarpon Springs, Florida and can be reached at +1.402.570.1833 or [email protected].

ED COLLUPY

Innovation Facilitator

Ed has more than 40 years of retail systems experience in the convenience/petro (The Pantry) and grocery (Purity Supreme & Shaw’s) retail channels, including most recently as a consultant at W. Capra Consulting Group providing strategic, operational, and project leadership to retailers, emerging businesses, and technology companies. His involvement in the industry continues as a Facilitator to Study Groups and as an independent consultant through Collupy System Solutions. He has served the Convenience/Petro industry as Chairman of the Board of Advisors of Conexxus and as a member of the NACS Convention Content Committee. Ed also has written and participated in on-line forums focused on retail technology. A New Englander at heart, he graduated from Suffolk University in Boston, attended Harvard’s Executive Education session, Delivering Information Services, and now living on Cape Cod he is very active in the community serving on various boards and committees.

Ed can be reached at [email protected].

Emma Hall

Intern

Emma joined the staff as a part-time intern in February of 2023. She helps with the website, event management, and other administrative tasks.

Emma lives in Goodyear, Arizona and can be can be reached at [email protected].

Stewie

Conexxus Mascot

Stewie became the official Conexxus mascot in 2008. Each outgoing Chair of the Board of Advisors adds an item to Stewie's collection of memorabilia.

Stewie and his collection can be found at every Conexxus Annual Conference. Between Conferences, Stewie resides with the current Conexxus Chair and can be reached at [email protected].