About Lowell

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Lowell Simon was born and raised in the New York City area. After graduating from the State University of New York with a degree in Philosophy and a minor in History he moved back home with mom and dad. After scouring the want ads for a job as a professional philosopher he settled into the only job he was ever fired from, a landscape architect. Following that momentous summer he began work at 7-Eleven and progressed from Store Manager to Zone Manager with responsibility for over 100 franchised and corporate stores in New York City and Long Island.

After eight years at 7-Eleven he was recruited by Boston based, The Store 24 to start up their New York City operations. Beginning with nothing but an office in his bedroom, he designed, staffed and operated six stores in Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx. Lowell eventually departed Store 24 as Vice President of Marketing with over 100 stores and over 1,000 employees in five states.

In 1986 Lowell moved with his wife Amy and 13 month old son Matthew to Raleigh, North Carolina where they opened three restaurants in North Raleigh. Lowell soon joined up with the Kenan family of Chapel Hill and helped them build a small chain of eight convenience stores. In 1995 Lowell and his family relocated to Seven Lakes in Moore County to take charge of Quik Chek Stores, headquartered in Troy. As Vice President of Operations, Lowell supervised more than thirty stores, six Hardees restaurants, numerous sub shops, pizza shops and even some proprietary food concepts. He had more than 250 employees in eight counties. 

In 2002 Lowell became part owner of a Moore County based convenience store chain called Fuel Mate. He and his partners operated six high volume stores that eventually caught the interest of their competitor, Kangaroo (The Pantry). After receiving an offer they couldn’t refuse, Lowell began his first retirement. That didn’t last long. In 2007 Lowell started his second career as a Math teacher at Union Pines High School. In 2013 he founded the UPstart Entrepreneurship Center where he worked until retiring in 2017.  

Lowell has served on the Board of Directors of Philip Morris, RJ Reynolds, the North Carolina Association of Convenience Stores, the North Carolina Council on the Holocaust, First Health of the Carolinas, First Carolina Care,  Moore Forward, Sand Dollar Funds and the To Cure a Rose Foundation. He has been a political appointee of three different Speakers of the NC House (from both parties). He currently serves as President Emeritus of The Sandhills Jewish Congregation and Treasurer of the Poor People’s Campaign-Sandhills Circle.