CEO of N.C. convenience store chain to receive Recent Alumni Achievement Award

During his time as an undergraduate student in the Herbert Wertheim College of Business, Cody Lewis joined a group of students on a visit to the headquarters of Berkshire Hathaway, where they met legendary investor Warren Buffett. Lewis and fellow students gave Buffett, a big fan of college football, particularly the Nebraska Cornhuskers, an FSU football jersey, courtesy of FSU faculty member Glenn Boggs, now retired. Lewis offers two anecdotes from the moment: (1) The above photo was taken by a photographer from a major news organization because Buffett told journalists who were present that he'd give them a short interview if they first took photos, using students' phones, of him with the students and (2) Buffett asked Lewis to put the jersey in his car to keep it tidy before they all sat down for lunch. Lewis recalled that when he got to Buffett's car, he realized that Buffett -- noted for his surprisingly laid-back lifestyle -- hadn't given him the keys. "I tried the handle and, of course, he had left it unlocked," Lewis said.

Cody Lewis still touts a transformative trip to Omaha, Nebraska, as an undergraduate student in the Herbert Wertheim College of Business at Florida State University. 

Lewis and classmates visited Berkshire Hathaway, the Fortune 500 conglomerate of legendary investor Warren Buffett.

“I got to pick his brain for a day,” Lewis recalls. “It was definitely a life-changing event for me.”

Lewis, a two-time graduate of FSU and the CEO of a thriving family-owned convenience-store chain based in western North Carolina, has since flourished as a Wertheim College alumnus, business owner and supporter of his alma mater, all factors in his selection as recipient of the college’s 2026 Recent Alumni Achievement Award.

The award honors extraordinary business alumni who have graduated with an undergraduate or graduate degree in the last 15 years. Lewis earned FSU bachelor’s degrees in real estate and management in 2008 and an MBA in 2011. He will receive the award at the college’s Alumni Hall of Fame Gala in October.

Lewis expresses lasting appreciation for the award, in part because of his more than five years as a member of the college’s Recent Alumni Board, which promotes connections among recent graduates and current students. The board also elects the annual recipient of the Recent Alumni Achievement Award.

“I helped give out this award several times and never thought about myself being included in it,” Lewis says. 

Cody Lewis, CEO of North Carolina-based T&C Holding Group and TopCat Markets, says his grandfather, T.C. Lewis, "instilled in me the set of values and morals that guide my commitment to our employees, our customers and our community."

Lewis is CEO of T&C Holding Group and TopCat Markets, which owns and operates niche convenience stores in western North Carolina. The company dates to 1934, when Lewis’ great-grandfather, Ernest Lewis, founded Lewis Esso in the family’s hometown of Sylva, North Carolina. 

Lewis Esso eventually spawned three companies that stand today: TopCat Markets, T&C General Store and Lewis Oil Co., an ExxonMobil distributor that supplies those stores with fuel and offers home heating oil and other petroleum products throughout the region. 

“My grandfather set the standard for how we operate our businesses and how to conduct ourselves as leaders,” says Cody Lewis, referring to T.C. Lewis, who earned the nickname Top Cat while serving in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War. “He instilled in me the set of values and morals that guide my commitment to our employees, our customers and our community.”

Lewis got his professional start outside the family business. During the Great Recession in 2009, a year after he completed his undergraduate degrees, Lewis landed a role as an apprentice to the CEO at a Sylva-based community savings bank and soon became, at age 23, executive vice president and CEO. 

In 2011, he returned to Tallahassee to accept a job as vice president and commercial lender at Prime Meridian Bank. After three years at Prime Meridian, recently acquired by MidFlorida Credit Union, he became chief financial officer at Artia Solutions, a Tallahassee-based pharmaceutical company, where he remained until 2018. 

Lewis and his wife, Melissa, a 2010 FSU graduate, then decided to move their family of four back to Sylva and help Lewis’ parents transition out of the family business.

After becoming CEO of TopCat Markets in 2018, Lewis established a digitized system, including inventory management and automatic ordering, in the company’s stores, helping to achieve a 50% increase in inside sales per store, he says. The fast growth landed him on FSU's Seminole 100 lists for 2019 and 2020.

Lewis also has relied on what he learned in FSU’s real estate, management and MBA programs. That included an understanding of financial and investment concepts such as cash flows, capitalization rates, site analysis and the time value of money.

“All of that, I use every day,” he says.

His FSU trip to Berkshire Hathaway’s headquarters left him fascinated with Buffett’s emphasis on durable competitive advantage. 

“Coca-Cola, for example, has a great durable competitive advantage: Everyone knows Coca-Cola,” Lewis says. “We're not big enough to have any serious branding power. But site selection and location are where we can find a durable competitive advantage.”

Lewis’ company thereby locates its stores in rural areas, away from major intersections and competitors, and aims to build or acquire 10 additional stores in the next 10 years.

Under Lewis' leadership, TopCat Markets diversified its products to include, for example, hunting gear, fishing tackle and agricultural supplies, all of which cater to the region’s recreation tourism and local populace. 

“Think of us as an Ace Hardware crossed with a convenience store and a local feed store,” he says.

And think of Lewis as forever connected to FSU. He has served nearly six years on the advisory board of the Department of Business Analytics, Information Systems and Supply Chain, and he often returns to campus to speak to classes about his experiences in banking, pharmaceuticals and now the family business.

“It’s important for students to know that career paths are not linear in today’s world,” he says.

He also touts a Wertheim College hallmark: grit. Michael D. Hartline, dean of the college, “loves to describe our business students as gritty,” Lewis says. “That’s why I fit in so well: the grit, the work ethic. Yeah, our academics are great, too. But if you don't put in the work, and you don't have the grit, you're not going to get anywhere.”

-- Pete Reinwald