Robert Buhler began his career in 1979 as a commercial banker at Continental Bank in Chicago and transferred to the Bank’s Capital Markets Group. He then joined CIBC, and became Head of CIBC’s North America Capital Markets. In 1993 he led a move, with several from his CIBC team to ABN AMRO North America, where he then ran their Capital Markets Group as Executive VP and Managing Director.
In 1997, Robert left investment banking to purchase Open Pantry Food Marts of Wisconsin, a convenience store company founded by his father. As Chairman and CEO of Open Pantry, Robert transformed the company from a franchise-focused company to a corporate–operated entity, buying and selling more than 90 sites. It became one of the most progressive convenient store chains in the industry, and Robert has been identified as one of the 50 most influential people in the convenience store industry’s 50-year history, per Convenience Store New, 2019.
In 2012, 7-Eleven, Inc. purchased a majority of the Open Pantry store assets and rebranded the sites as 7-Eleven. Robert continues to serve as President and CEO of Open Pantry, running the 8 sites not acquired, and also runs E&K Land, LLC (which is essentially a “private REIT” for his family office). He is on the Board of Directors of several leading industry organizations and many of his business achievements have been featured in industry magazines and national conventions. He has also been a spokesman to the U.S. Congress on industry issues.
Robert is passionate about the Greek Orthodox Church and is an Archon, college education for young Hellenes as Chairman of the PanHellenic Scholarship Foundation, and research for the cure of Multiple Sclerosis having supported MS in Wisconsin since 1997. He earned his B.S. and MBA degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He and his wife Violetta Kapsalis Buhler, live in Lake Forest Illinois, and their son Konstantine is a partner at Sequoia Capital in Palo Alto, and their daughter Eunice is General Counsel for G2 in Chicago.