For immediate release
Contact
:
Alisa Harrison, 202-628-8000
Matthew Haller, 202-662-0770
aharrison@franchise.org
mhaller@franchise.org
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WASHINGTON, April 29—The International Franchise Association announced it has partnered with the Professional Athlete Franchise Initiative (PAFI) to connect the professional athlete community to the franchise industry through education, research and interaction in advance of the 2011 PAFI Franchise Summit, July 11-13, in Atlanta, Ga.
As the oldest and largest organization representing franchising worldwide, the IFA is dedicated to promoting and protecting franchising through educational programs such as the PAFI. IFA will be a leading sponsor of the 2011 PAFI Franchise Summit, the premier event designed to introduce professional athletes to the basic architecture of the franchise industry. The summit also serves to educate franchisors about how to leverage athlete participation in their franchise growth initiatives. The classroom curriculum is crafted by franchise leaders and supported by franchisors and others geared toward tooling the professional athlete for transition.
“PAFI’s mission to educate athletes about value of franchise ownership as a second career supports IFA’s mission to raise the awareness of franchise ownership for all individuals as part of our strategic plan,” said IFA President and CEO Steve Caldeira. “Professional athletes are strong leaders on the field who understand the importance of working as a team and as part of a system to achieve success – many of the same characteristics of successful franchise systems.”
The 2011 PAFI Summit is hosted by Stan Friedman, CFE, senior vice president, FranConnect, and 2011 IFA Ronald E. Harrison Diversity Award Winner. Summit host committee members include IFA members Geoff Hill, vice president, Roark Capital Group, Kay Ainsley, managing director, Michael Seid Associates, Miriam Brewer, director of education and diversity, IFA, and Nick Powills, CEO, No Limit Media Consulting. For a complete list of speakers and education contributors to the summit, or for more information about PAFI, please visit
www.thepafi.org.
The 2011 summit will also feature several new areas of focus, including the development of mentorships between successful multi-unit athlete franchisees and interested athlete attendees and in-store experiences for attendees to get a feel for operating a franchise from the ground level.
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About the International Franchise Association
The International Franchise Association is the world’s oldest and largest organization representing franchising worldwide. Celebrating 50 years of excellence, education and advocacy, IFA protects, enhances and promotes franchising through government relations, public relations and educational programs. Through its awareness campaign highlighting the theme,
Franchising: Building Local Businesses, One Opportunity at a Time,
IFA promotes the nearly 18 million jobs and $2.1 trillion of economic activity generated by franchising. IFA members include franchise companies in over 90 different business format categories, individual franchisees and companies that support the industry in marketing, law and business development
.