EXECUTIVE TEAM
Meet our executive team, a group of visionary leaders committed to guiding our organization with vision and expertise.
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Together, we drive our strategic initiatives and foster a culture of collaboration. With diverse backgrounds and a shared passion for excellence, our team is dedicated to winning together and delivering the best for our members and partners.
Rob Knight
Chairman & CEO
Rob Knight, Chairman & CEO, is a senior executive with over 34 years of experience in the consumer packaged goods industry. With a diverse background in P&L management, strategic selling, sales operations, and go-to-market strategy, Rob has expertise spanning direct store delivery and warehouse systems on both the supplier and retailer sides of the business.
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​In this role, ​Rob holds full responsibility for all aspects impacting independent businesses. Before becoming Chairman & CEO, Rob served as Vice President/Co-Owner, overseeing all business elements for Independent Buyers' Company.​
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Rob holds an MBA, which has provided a strong foundation in leadership and management. He believes that academic achievements are crucial for running a thriving organization. Throughout his career, he has had the opportunity to work alongside some of the industry's greatest leaders, including Jim Turner-former CEO Dr Pepper/7up Bottling Company, Jim Turner-CEO Dr Pepper/7up Snapple Group Prior to Larry Young, Russ Wiener-CEO Rockstar Energy Drink, and Lee Highsmith-Founder of I.B.C. Observing these leaders, as well as many others, has offered unparalleled knowledge.
YOLANDA CUELLAR
Executive Assistant to the CEO
Director of Administration
Yolanda Cuellar holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics with an emphasis in Finance and Real Estate from Texas A&M University, as well as an MBA. In her dual role, she oversees administrative functions, enhances communication across departments, and implements effective organizational strategies. She effectively balances multiple priorities while providing executive support and serving as the primary contact for the CEO.
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Yolanda began her career at I.B.C. as a Customer Service Manager, where her exemplary performance led to advancement through various departments. After years of dedicated service, she was promoted to an executive-level position, assuming the title of Executive Assistant to the CEO and Director of Administration. In this capacity, she manages a variety of administrative tasks, including scheduling, project coordination, and resource allocation, while providing high-level support to the CEO. Additionally, Yolanda oversees the company fleet, coordinates new hires, organizes company events, manages the company’s websites, and serves as a liaison to our partners.
JOEY KNIGHT
President of easystore Companies
Joey Knight graduated from Angelo State University with a degree in Business Management in 2014. He started his college career as a redshirt, playing football while pursuing his studies.
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After graduation, Joey joined I.B.C., where he contributed to various areas of the business, including sales, marketing, and customer service. In 2015, he was promoted to Sales Manager for the North Texas Region. As Independent Buyers' Company continued to grow, Joey advanced to Regional Manager, overseeing several Regional Sales Managers in the Texas markets. He played a key role in expanding I.B.C. into other states, including Oklahoma, California, and Illinois.
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In 2018, Joey was promoted to Vice President of the Western Division, managing 13 Regional Sales Managers across multiple states. Thanks to his tenacity, he helped I.B.C. achieve a significant milestone of 6,000 store members. Joey is now the President of easystore, LLC, which includes easystore and easystorePRO.
BILL PITOCCO
Senior Vice President - Beverage Strategy
Bill Pitocco, Senior Vice President of Business Development, is an industry veteran with over 35 years of experience in convenience retailing, oil, gas, and consumer packaged goods. He is an entrepreneurial strategist and tactical executor with strong interpersonal skills, employing an empowering, participatory management style that fosters accountability, teamwork, and continuous improvement. Bill brings a proven track record of driving top and bottom-line growth to I.B.C.
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Having spent his formative years with major brands such as Texaco, Shell, Coors, and the Dr Pepper Snapple Company, Bill has developed strong operational skills. He has led chain store initiatives across the United States with Texaco and Buc-ees, refining his entrepreneurial spirit under the guidance of Don Wasek. Bill applied these skills as the CEO of the largest cooperative in South Texas, GHRA, where he developed a strategic framework that achieved phenomenal growth in sales, membership, and overall company performance.
TOM FARINACCI
Senior Vice President - Strategic Development
As the Senior Vice President of Strategic Development, Tom supports the I.B.C. organization by leading high-priority initiatives, training and development efforts, reset coordination, and operational excellence. Tom is passionate about helping our I.B.C. members grow their business and compete with larger chains.
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Tom brings a wealth of revenue generating, operational efficiency, and P&L experience from his leadership roles in the consumer-packaged goods, retail, healthcare and transportation logistics industries. No stranger to working with large brands, Tom got his start right out of college with Frito-Lay in the Kansas City area and rapidly progressed through the broader PepsiCo organization collecting key experiences in sales, marketing and ecommerce. From there, he took on progressive leadership roles in sales/marketing, operations, partnerships and channel sales at Delek US Holdings, Enlivant Senior Living, and PCS Software.
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Tom has a BS in Business Administration from William Jewell College where he played football for the Cardinals and earned an MBA from the University of Kansas. He resides in Frisco, Texas with his family.
LANCE MOSS
Senior Vice President of Sales
Beverage industry expert Lance Moss serves as the quarterback of the I.B.C. sales team. His ambition to drive company growth inspires the team to achieve results and meet members' expectations.
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Lance began his career as a route salesman, then progressed to sales account manager and area sales manager at Keurig Dr Pepper. He later became the Sales Director for small and large formats in South Texas, before being promoted to Distribution Manager.
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At I.B.C., Lance advanced from Convenience Store Specialist to Regional Director, then Vice President of Sales, and ultimately Senior Vice President of Sales. With his extensive background in sales, Lance and his team are always prepared to execute the next play.
brent runion
Senior Vice President of Center Store & Emerging Brands
Brent Runion, Senior Vice President of Center Store and Emerging Brands, is a CPG veteran with over 34 years of experience spanning various categories in both the beverage and food industries. His background includes expertise in multiple channels, with a focus on both large format and convenience store markets.
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At I.B.C., Brent’s primary role is to build, develop, and grow emerging brands and program strategies across all food and beverage categories. By leveraging analytics, innovation, and current trends, he empowers our members to remain competitive in today’s marketplace.
NOel Matthews
Chief Financial Officer
As the CFO, Noel oversees financial planning, budgeting, reporting, support banking and shareholder relationships, and will institute and maintain processes and controls to deliver the organization’s financial objectives. Noel has over 20 years of corporate financial experience, spanning all aspects of P&L optimization, financial planning, oversight and management. The most recent 15 years he served as a finance executive in various roles and geographies in Frito Lay, the largest Snack Food Company in North America. He most recently served as the financial lead for capital planning for North America, overseeing the largest 3-year capital spend in the organization’s history, with a total annual investment exceeding $1 BB across multiple investment categories, including manufacturing capacity, plant maintenance, IT, Fleet, as well as Warehouse and Distribution facilities. Prior to that, he led the $1 BB Pacific Northwest Sales Geography, a 1,500 employee, 8-state territory as the CFO, responsible for planning, pricing, promotions, investments, productivity initiatives, financial and competitive analysis, customer incentive program design, reporting, and controls.
Noel has BS and MS degrees in civil engineering from West Virginia University and an MBA from Wake Forest University. He resides in Arlington, Texas with his family.
jacob irving
Director of Information Technology
Jacob Irving is a technology enthusiast that brings data management and system design expertise to the I.B.C. team.
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A DFW local, Jacob graduated from University of North Texas located in Denton. Entering the workforce immediately, he spent years developing his skills under the mentorship of experienced information technology professionals. Jacob brings to the team the technical background necessary to propel I.B.C. into the cloud computing age.
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I.B.C. has invested in a sophisticated data processing system and a diverse team of career IT professionals to support it. Millions of data points, including real time sales, must be gathered and maintained to support the company's strategic decision making. Jacob and the team work directly from I.B.C.'s corporate office in Arlington where they manage all of the company's hardware and software. As I.B.C. continues to expand its services to members and vendors, this growing team is ready and capable to meet the demands.