Introducing the 2008 IFA Executive Committee And Board of Directors

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January 2008
Franchising World

The International Franchise Association’s leadership determines and follows the association’s mission statement to protect, enhance and promote franchising, and its vision to act as the pre-eminent voice and acknowledged leader for franchising worldwide.  The board of directors includes franchisees, franchisors and suppliers who represent the extremely diverse nature of franchising.  
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Chairman-elect
Steven J. Greenbaum, CFE
President and Chief Executive Officer
PostNet International Franchise Corp.
Steven J. Greenbaum, CFE, has served as president, chief executive officer and director since he co-founded PostNet International Franchise Corp. in 1992 with friend and business partner Brian Spindel. Greenbaum is an accomplished retail professional and entrepreneur with 25 years of experience in the postal and business services industry and is directly responsible for the strategic management and direction of the company. Since the inception of PostNet’s franchising program in July of 1993, the company has licensed more than 925 franchises in the United States and various countries internationally including more than 230 locations in Southern Africa. In 2008, PostNet launches its brand in Australia, Panama and Guatemala. Greenbaum has been a Certified Franchise Executive since 1997 and was honored with the IFA’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2003 and the Gary Rockwell Award for Excellence in Franchise Development in 2004. He presently serves as chair of IFA’s FranPAC Advisory Board and Convention Committee, as a member of IFA’s Finance, Audit and Budget and Membership Committees and is immediate past chairman of IFA’s Educational Foundation. He also serves on the board of the HealthStore Foundation, a non-profit organization that has developed 65 franchised Child and Family Wellness Shops (
www.cfwshops.com) in rural Kenya and will soon be expanding into Rwanda.
First Vice Chairwoman-elect
Dina Dwyer-Owens, CFE
Chairwoman and Chief Executive Officer
The Dwyer Group
A Certified Franchise Executive with more than 26 years of industry experience, Dina Dwyer-Owens is chairwoman and CEO of the Dwyer Group, Inc., which presides over trade-service brands that are welcomed into more than two million homes every year.  With more than 1,400 franchise owners around the world, The Dwyer Group’s concepts include Aire Serv Heating & Air Conditioning, Mr. Rooter Plumbing (Drain Doctor in the U.K.), Mr. Electric, Mr. Appliance, Glass Doctor, and Rainbow International Restoration and Cleaning. In total, The Dwyer Group will take in approximately $700 million in system-wide revenues this year, and its CEO attributes a good part of that success to the company’s Code of Values.  Ethics in business as written in her book “Live R.I.C.H.,” and The Dwyer Group’s innovative approach to exceeding the expectations of customers, a majority of them being women, have been the basis for advancement.  Under Dwyer-Owens’ tenure, the parent company has grown from $27 million to nearly $100 million in revenues. For her achievements, Dwyer-Owens has been featured in Working Mother, CNN, Inc. magazine.  She is married to Mike Owens and has two children, Dani-Ellé and Mikey.

Second Vice Chairman-elect
Kenneth D. Walker, CFE
President and Chief Executive Officer
Driven Brands, Inc.
Ken Walker, CFE, is president and CEO of Driven Brands, Inc., the holding company, which is the parent company of Meineke Car Care Centers, Inc., Econo Lube and Tune, Inc., Aero-Colours, Inc. and Tortal.net.   He joined Meineke as president and CEO in 1996 after serving nearly four years as president and CEO of Parts, Inc., in Memphis.  Parts, Inc. was a distributor of automotive parts and supplies with distribution facilities and stores covering 24 states.  Prior to his position with Parts, Inc., Walker spent 17 years in similar businesses, serving as president and CEO of Cardis Corp.  Before entering the automotive aftermarket, he was a manager and CPA with Arthur Young and Co. in Fort Worth.  Walker serves on the IFA board as second vice-chairman and is a member of the FranPAC Advisory Committee.  He will become chairman of the IFA Educational Foundation next month. Walker is currently a member of the World President’s Organization and has served as chairman of the Automotive Warehouse Distributors Association.  He has been an instructor for many AWDA seminars and is a recipient of the AWDA Memorial Scholarship and Pursuit of Excellence Award.  Walker currently serves on the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association board of directors and is vice chairman of the AAIA Executive Committee.  Additionally, he serves on the AAIA Government Affairs Committee.  He is a prior board member of the Automotive Hall of Fame.  Walker is a graduate of the University of Texas.

Secretary-elect
John F. “Jack” Earle
Managing Partner
Earle Enterprises, LP
(McDonald’s Corp.)
Jack Earle heads Earle Enterprises, LP and is a franchisee of McDonald’s restaurants in southeastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey. He joined the system in 1983 and has served in a variety of leadership positions during his franchising career, which spans more than two decades.  Earle served as chairman of IFA’s Franchisee Forum.  Currently he chairs the National Restaurant Building and Equipment Standards Team and McDonald’s Franchisees National Leadership Council.  He is a board member of the McDonald’s Political Action Committee.  Additionally, Earle is a member of the Division Leadership Council for the East Division, as well as the Regional Leadership Council for Greater Philadelphia.  He is vice president of the board of the Jeffrey Weinberg Foundation.  In past years, Earle served as secretary-treasurer, partners brands chairman and operator advocacy chairman for the NLC.  Earle has also been treasurer and director of the Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House board of directors.  Prior to joining McDonald’s, he was vice president, national lending division head for Fidelity Bank in Philadelphia.

Treasurer-elect
Russell J. Frith, CFE
President and Chief Executive Officer
Lawn Doctor Inc.
Russ Frith, CFE, was hired by Lawn Doctor President and co-founder Tony Giordano as sales manager, but originally began his involvement with the company as a customer.  Frith was promoted in rapid succession to vice president and chief operating officer, elected to the board of directors and appointed CEO in 1983.  His leadership is credited for the company’s ten-fold growth to nearly 500 units.  Frith has served on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Federal Pesticide Advisory Council and has lectured at the Wharton School of Business. He is past president of the Professional Lawn Care Association of America, and founding president of its education foundation.  He served as chairman of IFA in 2003.

Immediate Past Chairman-elect
Michael M. Isakson
President and Chief Operating Officer
ServiceMaster Clean
Michael M. Isakson, president and chief operating officer, ServiceMaster Clean, is responsible for more than 5,000 franchisees worldwide with sales totaling more than $1.5 billion annually.  Isakson leads ServiceMaster Clean, Furniture Medic and AmeriSpec Brands, part of the $4 billion dollar ServiceMaster Co., which specialize in residential and commercial cleaning services, disaster restoration, on-site furniture repair and home inspections.  In addition, he oversees the international operations of the Terminix, Trugreen and Merry Maids brands.  Isakson and his wife Jinny owned a ServiceMaster franchise in Bismarck, N.D. for 13 years and a Merry Maids franchise for two years.  As franchisees, the Isaksons received the Marion E. Wade Award of Honor, ServiceMaster’s most prestigious franchise recognition.  He joined the corporate team as vice president of franchise sales in 1990.  In 1992, he was promoted to president and chief operating officer of Merry Maids, and in 1994 he was appointed president of the ServiceMaster Consumer Services Franchise Services Group.  He has served as co-chair of the IFA Franchisor Forum. The Isakson’s son, Curtis, a graduate Wheaton College is employed in the legal department of the White House in Washington, D.C.  Their daughter, Catherine, is a senior at the Univ. of Tennessee-Chattanooga.  Isakson and his wife reside in Cordova, Tenn. and are very active in Bellevue Baptist Church.
Past Chairman-elect
Lawrence J. “Doc” Cohen, CFE
President
Doc & Associates, Ltd.
Lawrence “Doc” Cohen, CFE, is president of Doc & Associates, Ltd., a franchisee of the Great American Cookie Co., The Coffee Beanery and Pretzel Time.  He served as founding president GAC’s Franchise Advisory Council and has been honored twice by IFA as Franchisee of the Year and by Great American Cookie Co. as Franchisee of the Decade.  Prior to becoming a franchisee, Cohen was a pharmacist and attorney.  He is the former chairman of the IFA board of directors, an IFA Educational Foundation trustee, IFA Franchisee Forum and past treasurer and chairman of the board’s Finance, Audit and Budget Committee.  He served as chairman of the 2006 Convention Committee, chair of the FranPAC Advisory Board.  Cohen was the first franchisee to earn the Certified Franchise Executive designation.

Chairman-elect, Franchisee Forum
John W. Francis
Owner
PostNet of Minnesota and Wisconsin
In 1989, after graduating from the College of St. Thomas in St. Paul, John Francis became involved in his family’s primary business, “The Barbers,” a publicly-traded hair salon franchisor of Cost Cutters, City Looks, We Care Hair and The Barbers salons in the United States and three foreign countries.  Francis’ positions at The Barbers involved international development, including supervision of the 1992 opening of a “City Looks” salon in Moscow and assisting a master franchisee in France, which opened more than 50 units in France.  He moved into franchise sales and real estate in 1994, and to marketing for the Cost Cutters Division in 1996.  He facilitated The Barbers’ acquisition of the 140-unit We Care Hair salons in 1997, and became vice president of credit and strategy for The Barbers in 1998.  In 1998, The Barbers Corp. was publicly-traded on NASDAQ.  In 1999, The Barbers opened with 1,000 units valued at $60 million and was merged into the Regis Corp. one of the largest hair salon operators and franchisors in the world.  Since July 2001, Francis has been involved with PostNet International Franchise Corp. as the area franchisee of Minnesota and Wisconsin. Today he owns and operates a PostNet location in St. Paul, and has developed 15 additional units owned and operated by other franchisees. He currently has multiple units in development in several cities in Minnesota and Wisconsin.   Francis has been very active in IFA for many years, including involvement in the Franchisee Forum and will serve as its 2008 chairman.  He currently serves on the Membership, VetFran and Marketing and Public Relations Committees.  Francis joined the IFA board of directors in 2007. He has been a speaker and presenter at several IFA national conventions and local meetings. During his franchise career, he has received numerous honors, including “Outstanding Achievement-Team Player” from PostNet in 2002, Minneapolis Business Journal’s “40 under 40” in 2003 and “Presidents Award” recipient from the PostNet Franchise System for 2003 and 2005, and received the PostNet “Leadership” Award in 2006.  He has served on the PostNet Franchise Advisory Council as a member from 2002 through 2004, re-elected in 2005 and the 2007-2008.  He also serves as vice-chair of the PostNet Finance Committee and a regular member of the first “Performance Group,” which is a peer group for PostNet franchisee owners from across the nation.

Chairman-elect, Franchisor Forum
Stephen P. Joyce
Executive Vice President, Global Development-Owner and
Franchise Services
Marriott International
Stephen P. Joyce is a 25-year veteran of Marriott holding numerous positions in development, franchising, finance and operational consulting and is responsible for the development of the company’s lodging brands worldwide and oversees the company’s Owner & Franchise Services group. The Owner & Franchise Services group supports both franchisees and owners of Marriott-managed hotels in North America.  The department’s mission is to support the organization by attracting, securing and growing with high-value, multi-unit owners and franchisees that partner with the company to grow its brands’ distribution and preference. Under his leadership, the company’s Global Development group is responsible for growing the company’s hotel brands worldwide.  Marriott’s pipeline of hotels under construction, awaiting conversion or approved for development totals approximately 115,000 rooms.  Of those, more than 36,000 are full-service hotel rooms and over half are located outside the United States. Marriott International is a leading lodging company with more than 2,900 lodging properties in the United States and 67 other countries and territories.  The company operates under the Marriott, JW Marriott, The Ritz-Carlton, Renaissance, Residence Inn, Courtyard, TownePlace Suites, Fairfield Inn, SpringHill Suites and Bulgari brand names.  In 2007, the company announced plans to develop two new lodging brands: Nickelodeon Resorts by Marriott and a boutique hotel brand to be developed in partnership with Ian Schrager. Joyce serves as member of the IFA Executive Committee and board of directors, the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts, the Autism Learning Center and is vice chairman for the ServiceSource Foundation. He holds a bachelor’s degree in commerce from the University of Virginia and has done graduate work at Cornell University, Wharton Business School and the Aspen Institute. 

Chairman-elect Supplier Forum
Andrew Perrin
Member
Larkin Hoffman Daly & Lindgren Ltd.
Andrew Perrin has represented franchise systems and served the franchise industry for nearly 20 years. As a member of Larkin Hoffman Daly & Lindgren Ltd., a Minneapolis-based law firm, Perrin has represented clients in a variety of business issues, including structuring of the franchise relationship, drafting and registering franchise programs, negotiating with franchisees and acquiring and selling franchise systems. Perrin also has assisted companies in mergers and acquisitions, venture capital financing, loan transactions and general corporate matters.  An active member of the franchising industry, Perrin is a member of the American Bar Association’s Forum on Franchising, IFA’s Legal/Legislative Committee, as well as its Franchise Relations Committee.  He is also a member of the IFA’s Supplier Forum Advisory Board, where he has served as a member of its executive committee and was recently-elected as its chairman for 2008-2009. Since 2006, Perrin has been recognized as a leader in the field of franchise law by The International Who’s Who of Franchise Lawyers. He has also been recognized as a “Super Lawyer” by Minnesota Law and Politics Magazine since 2003.  He has written and spoken on a number of topics involving franchise matters and is a regular speaker at franchise business conventions and legal seminars.  Perrin received his bachelor’s degree from Kalamazoo College and graduated from the University of Michigan Law School. He is admitted to practice law in Minnesota and Georgia. He was a member of Larkin Hoffman’s board of directors for eight years, as well as being a member of the firm’s Strategic Planning Committee and the former chairman of its Legal Personnel Committee.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Kay Marie Ainsley, CFE
Managing Director
Michael H. Seid & Associates, LLC, (MSA)
First Vice Chairwoman,  IFA Supplier Forum
Kay Ainsley, CFE, is managing director of Michael H. Seid & Associates, LLC, (MSA) which provides domestic and international franchise consulting services to clients within the retail, restaurant, business to business and service industries.  Ainsley consults with companies on utilizing franchising, both in the United States and internationally to achieve their goals. She assists companies in setting objectives, developing strategy, and creating and executing plans for establishing or expanding a franchise program, brand building, franchise relationships and the restructuring or exiting of existing programs.  Ainsley was director of international development for Domino’s Pizza International. She also served as director of international development for Ziebart International.  She has negotiated master, area development and joint-venture agreements in Europe, Scandinavia, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Latin and South America and the Caribbean. 

Bill Anderson
President
The UPS Store of Philadelphia
Bill Anderson is the president of The UPS Store of Philadelphia and is a franchisee of the UPS Store system.   A multiple-center owner with three locations in Philadelphia and Central New Jersey, he has been a franchisee for more than a decade.  He served as a member of the UPS Store Franchisee Advisory Council for eight years, three of those as chairman.  Anderson has served as chairman of the IFA Franchisee Forum, on the Executive Committee, the Nominating Committee, Convention Committee, the FranPAC Advisory Board and the Franchise Relations Committee.  He currently sits on the Awards and the Membership Committees and is nearing completion of his CFE requirements. 

Ron Berger
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Figaro’s Italian Pizza, Inc.
Ron Berger’s extensive background in franchising has prepared him for his management today of more than 100 franchised outlets in 20 states for Figaro’s Pizza and Sargo’s Subs.  Berger founded National Video Inc., a system of franchised retail video specialty stores that grew to 750 stores throughout the United States and Canada.  After taking the company public, he sold it and started Rentrak Corp., a distributor, information processor and owner of The Pro Image Inc.  Berger previously served as a member of the IFA board of directors in the 1980s and again in the 1990s, chaired the Franchise Relations Committee and was a member of the Marketing and Public Relations Committee. 
Jerry Crawford, CFE
President
Jani-King International, Inc.
Jerry Crawford, CFE, directs the commercial cleaning franchise, Jani-King, and holds various offices and director positions of subsidiary and affiliated companies of Jani-King International, Inc.  He is president and owner of C&C Franchising, Inc. of Hampton Roads, Va. and Richmond, Va. and is president and partner of Opportunity Franchising, Inc. in Illinois.  Crawford is also vice president and owner of Jani-King of Roanoke/Lynchburg, Va.  He joined Jani-King of Oklahoma, Inc. in 1987 and in 1988 was promoted to corporate headquarters in Dallas, where he was responsible for marketing and supporting master franchises in the United States and overseas.  Later, he was promoted to president of Jani-King Franchising, Inc. and Jani-King, Inc.  In 1996, he was promoted to president of Jani-King International, Inc.  He has served on the IFA board of directors for more than 10 years.  He was chairman of the association’s International Affairs Committee and is currently a trustee of the IFA Educational Foundation.  Prior to joining Jani-King, he was district computer center manager for Tandy Corp. in Oklahoma City.

Lane Fisher
Partner
FisherZucker, LLC
Lane Fisher is active in IFA serving in a number of capacities, including chairman of the Legal Symposium Task Force and of the Membership Committee’s Regional Meetings Subcommittee.   Fisher is a former chairman of the IFA Supplier Forum, a member of the association’s board of directors and Executive Committee from 2005 to 2006.  He has been a member of IFA’s FranPAC Advisory Board and the Franchisee Involvement Task Force.  He has published more than 19 articles and given more than 40 presentations on franchising-related issues at conferences and on television and served as a frequent commentator in articles.  Fisher was identified by Philadelphia magazine as a “Superlawyer” in its July 2004, 2005 and 2006 issues and a “Legal Eagle” in Franchise Times’ April 2004, 2005 and 2006 issues.

Philip Friedman
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
McAlister’s Corp.
Philip Friedman is chairman and chief executive officer of McAlister’s Corp., a quick-casual concept he acquired along with a group of investors in 1999 that operates and franchises 250 restaurants in 20 states. In 2005, Friedman led the successful sale of McAlister’s Corp. to Roark Capital Group, becoming the company’s second largest shareholder. Prior to engineering the acquisition of McAlister’s from its founders in 1999, he served as chairman of the board of Rosti Restaurants, president and director of Panda Management Co. Inc., chief financial officer for Service America Corp. and vice president of restaurant planning and development for Marriott Corp.  He has served on the board of directors for the following companies: Roma Corp. (Tony Roma Restaurants); Cini-Little International, a leading foodservice consulting firm; Panda Management; HomeTown Buffet; Eateries; Paramark Enterprises, (T.J. Cinnamons); Roadhouse Grill; and Silver Diner Corp. In addition, Friedman is president of P. Friedman & Associates, a strategic planning and management consultants’ company he founded in 1986.  Clients have included Buffets, the Big Boy, Roy Rogers and Travel Plaza Divisions of Marriott Corp., Service America Corp., Panda Management, Host-Marriott Corp., HomeTown Buffets, Sutton Place Gourmet and Shoney’s.  He has been an advisor to financial organizations such as the Carlyle Group, Bessemer Venture Partners, the Leverage Funding Group of Heller Financial Corp., Horn Venture Partners, Sentinel Capital Partners and Caxton-Iseman Capital.  He is a trustee of the IFA’s Educational Foundation. A former major in the U.S. Army Reserves, Friedman served in Vietnam as a food distribution officer.  He earned a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, as well as a master’s degree in political science, and a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Connecticut where he lettered in football and lacrosse.  He has been an instructor in business management at Rutgers and Bowling Green Universities.

Scott R. Haner, CFE
Vice President, Franchise Development
Yum! Brands, Inc.
Scott R. Haner, CFE, is responsible for market planning and franchise recruitment at Yum! Brands. Now in his 19th year as a KFC-Yum veteran, Haner has development and marketing experience. The franchise features five category-leading brands, KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and Long John Silver’s and A&W All American Food.  The company’s Market Planning Team works with the brands to set the strategic direction for development, ensuring that the right assets are planned in every trade area in America. Haner was asked to revive a franchise recruiting effort in 2003.  His team is responsible for a significant increase in new franchisee registrations over the last three years.  He believes that enabling franchisees will result in enhanced future development and this belief led to the creation of a “Franchise Roadmap for Growth” course, which he conducts as part of the Yum! University in Louisville. From 1997 to 2003, Haner led the Emerging Concepts Team, preparing new multi-brand combinations and readying the best-performing brand combinations for national expansion.  Prior to the emerging concepts work, he spent three years in the KFC Concept Development Department working on new restaurant design.  This followed five years in the KFC Marketing Department, both in field marketing and restaurant support center project leader roles. His early career included six years of brand marketing and international sales for Jobe’s Fertilizer Spikes in Lexington, Ky. and three years of brand management experience at General Mills Inc. in Minneapolis.  Haner was educated at Purdue University, receiving a bachelor’s degree in restaurant, hotel and institutional management and a master’s degree with a marketing emphasis from the university’s Krannert School of Management.

David Jordan
Vice President, Foodservice National Accounts
PepsiCo Foodservice
David Jordan has more than 25 years in the foodservice industry.  Throughout a 10-year career with Procter & Gamble Co., he progressed from sales representative to district manager.  In 1989, he joined Coca-Cola’s Fountain business as account manager for the southwest, followed by a promotion to director of national chain accounts, where he was successful in significantly increasing incremental sales.  At Sonic Industries, Inc., he successfully built system-wide sales with the creation of differentiated advertising, the implementation of a new soft-serve dessert program and the development of more than 200 new outlets.  He then moved to Shoney’s, where he served as vice president of strategic planning and later as senior vice president of business development. Jordan was recruited to PepsiCo in 1998, where he began as vice president of fountain beverage business development.  In 2000, he assumed responsibility as vice president of national account sales and business development.  In 2001, he became vice president of beverage development-national accounts east.  In 2002, he was named to lead the National Account Group, which includes all restaurants (except YUM), C&G and Access channels.

Aslam Khan
President and Chief Executive Officer
Falcon Holdings, LLC (Church’s Chicken)
Aslam Khan is a prominent restaurant executive who rose from a team member to a turnaround artist.  He left home at the age of 14.  After putting himself through school, his first job was in the American Club at the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan.  He ultimately became the club manager. Skilled in food and beverage service operations, Khan worked at the U.S. Embassy for about seven years before coming to the United States.  He joined Church’s Chicken as a team member.  He developed expertise in both operations and marketing to later enter and excel within the corporate office of a Church’s franchisee. Khan left Church’s and served a few years with KFC in Los Angeles.  Returning to Church’s Chicken in 1997, he took over 48 restaurants, becoming one of the system’s largest company operations in Los Angeles. Within two years Khan transformed these restaurants to become the best-run stores in the Church’s system.  He was named a “Hometown Hero” by Church’s Chicken for his success and involvement in the community.  Khan was also awarded the Restaurant of the Year designation for his efforts in California.  He then acquired a 100-unit group of Church’s restaurants in the Midwest that were on the verge of bankruptcy in 1999 and turned them around.  For his accomplishments, he was honored with the “Most Improved Restaurant Operations,” “Turnaround Expert” and many other awards.  Khan now owns and operates more than 130 restaurants.  In 2002, he became active in the Illinois Restaurant Association as a board member and served on the Political Affairs and Membership committees.  Khan is a member of the Marketing Committee of Church’s Chicken, is a past chairman of the company’s purchasing co-op and serves on the company’s board of directors.  He has also served as a member of Church’s Independent Franchise Association board of directors for many years and was a board member of the Supply Management Services of AFC for many years.  
William Kussell
Chief Operating Officer, U.S.
Dunkin’ Brands, Inc.
William Kussell is responsible for overseeing marketing, operations and development of Dunkin’ Brands’ two companies, Baskin-Robbins and Dunkin’ Donuts, as well as multi-branding and new market entry and retail excellence.  Kussell joined the company in 1994.  Prior to assuming his current position, he was retail concept officer of Allied Domecq QSR from 1998 to 2003, president of Dunkin’ Donuts from 1996 to 1997 and senior vice president of marketing and purchasing for Dunkin’ Donuts from 1994 to 1996.  Before coming to Allied Domecq, he was vice president of marketing for Reebok and international group product manager for Polaroid.  Kussell received a master’s degree in business administration at Boston University and graduated magna cum laude with bachelor’s degrees in history and sociology from the University of Pennsylvania.  He currently serves on the board of directors of Zoots.

Stuart Mathis
President
The UPS Store
Stuart Mathis has more than 29 years’ experience in franchising, operations and administration. In 1985, he began his career in franchising as regional controller for Domino’s Pizza, Inc. After 18 months, he was promoted to regional vice president and eventually served for seven years as executive vice president of franchise operations. In that capacity, he reported directly to the company’s founder, Tom Monaghan, and was part of the team that eventually sold the company for more than $1 billion.  Following his successful career with Domino’s, he joined the executive team at Mail Boxes Etc., Inc. in 2001 as vice president of operations.  A short time later the company was acquired by UPS. In 2002, he was promoted to president of Mail Boxes Etc., Inc., where he managed the conversion of most of the domestic network to The UPS Store brand and currently oversees a global network of more than 5,900 retail locations. Mathis earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Georgia and a master’s degree in business administration from Georgia State University.

R. Eric McCarthey
President
7-Eleven Business Development
The Coca-Cola Co.
Eric McCarthey is president of the 7-Eleven business development with the Coca-Cola Co. where he directs value creation strategies, business system design, product and service innovation, revenue growth, and supply chain support for one of the Coca-Cola system’s largest and most complex customers.  With approximately 25 years of business, marketing development, operations, and general management experience, McCarthey has significantly contributed to the development of the company’s sales and global business system, establishing innovative customer and commercial leadership capabilities, consumer marketing initiatives and increasing growth opportunities.  He joined the company in 1981 as a territory sales manager.  Throughout his tenure, he held such positions as division marketing director and deputy division president for the Nordic and North Eurasia division, vice president and managing director of the global Burger King account team, and most recently senior vice president of sales and marketing of the North American foodservice division.  He earned an executive master’s degree in business administration from the University of Southern California and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado.   He consults with Emory University’s Center for Relationship Marketing and is a board member of Global Imaging Systems where he has served since 2001.  McCarthey chairs the IFA Diversity Institute board of directors. He currently chairs GIS’ audit committee and is a member of the nominating-governance committee and compensation committee.  McCarthey is featured in the article “Inside the Minds,” a special book publication on “The Art of Sales” by Aspatore Books and published an article in Leadership Excellence: “High-Impact Boards.”

Barry Miller
President
NBM Management Inc.
(Sylvan Learning Center franchisee)
First Vice Chairman
IFA Franchisee Forum
Barry Miller is president of NBM Management Inc. which owns and operates Sylvan Learning Center sites in Ohio and Pennsylvania, as well as Prometric, Computer Based Testing sites at each of these locations.  Miller has been an owner and operator with Sylvan Learning Centers since 1985. He has served six terms as president of the Sylvan Franchise Owners Association and is currently vice president of the company’s Franchise Owners’ board of directors.  Additionally, Miller was a founding officer of Sylvan National Advertising Inc., a joint franchisee-Sylvan Learning company formed to administer what is now more than $20 million per year in expenditures.  He has also served as a franchisee member of the eSylvan Inc. board of directors, delivering Sylvan Learning Center services to clients over the Internet.  Service activities include the IFA Franchisee Forum and service on the association’s Minorities in Franchising, Franchise Relations and Information Technology Committees.  Previously, he served in corporate management positions with Midland-Ross and ITT Corporations, including division manager of production control, director of engineering, management information systems and production management.  Miller holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering and a master’s degree from Kent State University.  He lives near Youngstown, Ohio with his wife Nancy.

Barbara Moran
Chief Executive Officer and President
Moran Industries, Inc.
As co-founder of Moran Industries, Inc., Barbara Moran has more than 17 years experience within the franchising and automotive industries. Currently Moran presides as president and chief executive officer of Moran Industries’ franchising automotive service brands that include transmission repair, general engine repair and diagnostics, vehicle accessories and now commercial and residential window film installation.  The franchise system’s service brands include Mr. Transmission, Multistate Transmission, Milex Complete Auto Care, Alta Mere Toys for Your Cars, Dr. Nick’s Transmission and recently-added Smartview Window Solutions. Moran has been active as a member of several committees focusing on franchise relations and women’s mentorship.  Currently she serves on the IFA board of directors, chairs the Franchise Relations Committee, is a member of the Women’s Franchise Committee and a mentor to women through the WFC Mentorship Program.  In 2002, Moran was a co-founder of the Chicago Women’s Franchise Network.  She is a member of several professional organizations, including the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association, Automatic Transmission Rebuilders Association, Entrepreneur’s Organization and the National Association for Female Executives.  Moran has authored articles for Franchising World, Transmission Digest and Franchise Update and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, and Crain’s.  Recently she has served as a finalist judge to the 2006 and 2007 Global Student Entrepreneur Awards of the Collegiate Entrepreneur Organization.

Michael J. Roman, CFE
Downstream Issues Management
U.S. Fuels Marketing
ExxonMobil Corp.
Vice Chairman,
Franchisor Forum
During a 30-year career with ExxonMobil, Michael J. Roman, CFE, has held numerous franchise management positions spanning business and strategy development, operations and financial planning, and leading ExxonMobil’s franchise legislative affairs activities.  Roman is largely credited with successfully planning and executing the alignment of the Exxon and Mobil fuels franchises subsequent to the brands’ merger and he has developed industry-leading franchisee’ support alliances with major financial and insurance providers.  He is the 2007 chairman of the IFA Educational Foundation.  He also serves on the Board of Governors of the Institute of Certified Franchise Executives.  He is past co-chair of the strategic advisory board of the International Institute for Franchise Education of the H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship at Nova Southeastern University and has served as an instructor for IIFE programs and franchise business seminars.

Steve Romaniello, CFE
President and Chief Executive Officer
FOCUS Brands, Inc. (Carvel Ice Cream, Cinnabon, Moes’ Southwest Grill, Seattle’s Best Coffee and Schlotzsky’s)
Steve Romaniello, CFE, is the president and CEO of FOCUS Brands, the franchisor and operator of more than 2,100 ice cream stores, bakeries, restaurants and cafes in the United States, Puerto Rico and 32 countries under the brand names Carvel, Cinnabon, Schlotzsky’s, Moe’s Southwest Grill and the franchisor of Seattle’s Best Coffee on military bases and in certain international markets. The company also sells its famous ice cream cakes in more than 8,500 supermarket outlets through Rocky Hill, Conn.-based Celebration Foods, Carvel’s manufacturing and distributing division.  Prior to accepting the post at FOCUS, Romaniello was president and chief operating officer of U.S. Franchise Systems.  Joining at the company’s inception as a senior vice president, he helped grow USFS from one brand with 27 hotels in nine states to three brands and more than 500 hotels open in 47 states and five countries.  Before joining USFS, he was Holiday Inn Worldwide’s youngest vice president, responsible for franchise services, support and training for the 1,700 hotels in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean operating under the Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza brands, as well as franchise sales in the region.  From 1988 to 1991, he held various positions with Days Inn of America.  A native of Stamford, Conn. and a Tufts University graduate, Romaniello is a member of the board of directors of Fast Signs, the IFA’s Diversity Institute and the Atlanta Franchise Alliance.  He also serves on the Leadership Advisory Council for the Elliot Leadership Institute, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the development and advancement of executives in the food-service and hospitality industries.

Ann M. Rosenberg, CFE
President
D’Vine Wine
Ann M. Rosenberg, CFE, co-founded Let’s Make Wine/RoseVine Winery in 2003 with business partner Thomas A. DeRossett Jr.  The shops allow customers to create, bottle and label their own wines on the premises, as well as purchase wine by the bottle.  In June 2006, RoseVine Enterprises, their parent company, entered a joint venture with D’Vine Wine, Inc., a franchisor of similar units in Texas, to conduct business as D’Vine Wine Franchise Systems USA, LLC.   DVWFS USA now has nine franchisees, two company-owned shops and two licensees in four states.  Rosenberg and DeRossett also own the 1810 Country Inn and Winery, which includes a vineyard and event pavilion, in Thomson, Ga.  Rosenberg is a trustee of the IFA’s Education Foundation and serves on its Diversity Institute board.  She is president, director and trustee of the William Rosenberg Family Foundation, Inc., which has assets of more than $20 million.  She serves as a director of the William Rosenberg International Center of Franchising at the University of New Hampshire; trustee of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; and is a member of the Florida Board of the Commonwealth Institute, a women’s think tank in Miami. 

Nikki Sells, CFE
Vice President, Franchising
Express Personnel Services
Nikki Sells, CFE, oversees the sale of franchises in the United States, Canada, South Africa and Australia as vice president of franchising for Oklahoma City-based staffing firm Express Personnel Services.  Prior to joining the Express headquarters team, she was a franchisee in the Springfield, Mo., Express Personnel franchise with her husband, Robert.  As a franchisee, Sells was a founding member of the IFA Franchisee Advisory Council and served as chairwoman in 1997.  She also served on the association’s board of directors and as chairwoman of the Women’s Franchise Committee from 1997 to 2004.  Sells and Robert were named IFA Franchisees of the Year in 2001, and Express Franchisees of the Year in 1995, 1997 and 2001.  In 2002, the couple received the company’s highest honor for franchisees, the Gordon Blair Heritage Award.  Sells joined the headquarters management team in January 2004.  In 2005, she received the IFA Bonny LeVine Award for mentoring and promoting women in franchising and is currently chairwoman of the IFA Marketing and Public Relations Committee.  Sells taught in the public schools of Oklahoma and Arkansas for eight years and was a weekend weather anchor for the local NBC affiliate in Fort Smith, Ark. before joining Express.  She is a past board member of the University of Arkansas Alumni Association. 

Larry I. Tate
Senior Vice President
Franchise Sales
Golden Corral Buffet & Grill
Larry I. Tate, senior vice president of franchise sales for the 480-unit Golden Corral Buffet and Grill chain, established the franchising program at the Raleigh, N.C.-based system in 1990. The company’s franchised restaurants have grown to 357 units that accounted for three-quarters of the system’s $1.526 billion annual sales in 2006. This represented a new system-wide sales record for the 15th consecutive year. In 2006, Tate’s team awarded 43 new franchise markets, averaging one every six business days and a new restaurant opened every nine business days.  In August, he celebrated 23 years with Golden Corral. Tate’s results at Golden Corral are built on the experience he gained in the 1970s when he directed a franchising strategy as the chief operating officer for Baskin-Robbins 31 Flavors which transformed the small California ice cream company into a national brand. The lawyer-turned-business executive gained unique insights into the franchisor-franchisee relationship in the 1980s through owning and operating four franchised Shakey’s Pizza restaurants in the Los Angeles area, after serving four years as executive vice president of Shakey’s.  His experience and legal training makes him an authoritative advocate for franchising. He testified against unnecessary new government regulations at a U.S. House of Representatives committee hearing where he explained that trust and communication were the keys to a successful franchise relationship, not increased complexity in disclosure documents and more avenues for litigation. Tate is a re-elected member of the IFA board of directors and past chairman of the IFA Franchise Relations Committee. He is a regular panelist and speaker at franchise management workshops and IFA conventions. He joined Investors Management Corporation, the parent of Golden Corral, in 1984 and held a series of senior posts. When Golden Corral launched a national expansion program in the 1990s, led by an aggressive franchising campaign aimed at new markets, Tate was placed in charge. The result has been franchise awards for development of more than 650 new and existing Golden Corral restaurants, representing present and future franchisee investment in the Golden Corral brand of about $2 billion in land, building and equipment.  He received a bachelor’s degree from Muskingum College in Ohio and a juris doctor degree from the University of Michigan Law School. He is a member of the California Bar, the American Bar Association and the International Bar Association.  He was a member of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, president of the Burbank Board of Education, a member of the Burbank City Council, and chairman of a 1,200 member United Methodist Church.  He is a distinguished past president of the North Raleigh Kiwanis Club and past chairman of the Raleigh Artsplosure Festival.  He and his wife, Marilyn Maynard, also an attorney, make their home in Raleigh, N.C.

Samuel H. Wright
Senior Vice Pres., Government Relations
FedState Strategic Consulting, Inc.
Samuel H. Wright serves as senior vice president of government relations for FedState Strategic Consulting, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Realogy Corp., a former division of Cendant and the franchisor of Caldwell Banker, Century 21, ERA and Sotheby’s.  FedState represents all of the former Cendant companies’ government relations activities.  Wright opened the Cendant Corp. Washington, D.C. office in 1998 and has led the growing department since that time.  He joined the company in 1997 following the acquisition of PHH Corp., a predecessor of Cendant.  Wright served in various positions in PHH, including general counsel.  Wright chaired the IFA Legislative Action Group and is a member of the government affairs committee of the American Hotel and Lodging Association and the Travel Business Roundtable. He is a member of the American Bar Association and the Maryland Bar Association.  Wright received a bachelor’s degree from Union College and a juris doctor’s degree from the School of Law of the University of Maryland.

George Zografos
Chief Executive Officer
Z Donut Co. (Dunkin’ Donuts)
George Zografos’ career with Dunkin’ Donuts spans 30 years, 20 as a franchisee and 10 with the corporate office. He currently has multiple shops on Cape Cod, upstate New York and is also the owner of Cape Cod Harley-Davidson, a local Harley-Davidson dealership.  Zografos is a member of the Executive Advisory Committee of Dunkin’ Donuts, a 20-year member of the Boston Advertising Committee and has served as chairman and vice chairman of its Marketing Leadership Council.  Other memberships include the Dunkin’ Donuts National Leadership Council.  Zografos has served as a board member of Dunkin’ Donuts North East Distribution Center and chaired its Coffee Commodity Board.  He continues to serve on the IFA Educational Foundation and was the IFA Franchisee Forum chairman in 2003 and 2004.  Additionally, Zografos is the trustee chairman of Cape Cod Community College and serves on the board of the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce. 
With sincere appreciation for their service, the following individuals will be leaving the IFA board of directors as of Feb. 12, 2008:
Richard Crawford
Vice President
McDonald’s Corporation

William G. Hall, CFE
CEO
William G. Hall & Co.

Kirk Kinsell, CFE
President, Europe,
Middle East & Asia
InterContinental Hotels Group

Godfred P. Otuteye, CFE
President/ CEO
Money Mailer, LLC
Rick Robinson
President
Franchising Services

Steven S. Rogers
President & CEO
The Franchise Company

Heather L. Rose
President and Chief Executive Officer
Sona MedSpa International

Michael H. Seid, CFE
Managing Director
Michael H. Seid & Associates  

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