IFA Educational Foundation Launches New Franchise Scholarship for Emerging Franchisors

For immediate release

Contact:
Alisa Harrison, 202-628-8000
Matthew Haller, 202-662-0770

aharrison@franchise.org

mhaller@franchise.org

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ORLANDO, Feb. 14, 2012―The IFA Educational Foundation today awarded a new Certified Franchise Executives’ scholarship focused on new and emerging franchisors during the International Franchise Association’s 52ndAnnual Convention.

The award is made possible by a donation from the law firm Gray Plant Mooty. The recipient of the first scholarship is Tra Williams, vice president of Appleton Learning Corporation. Appleton Learning is a new IFA member with one location open (as of November) and 22 locations in the pipeline. Williams joined Appleton in 2011 after serving as president of Planet Smoothie LLC from 2007-2010. Since joining Appleton Learning, he has worked to rebrand and revise all aspects of the company’s development program, including concept, human resources realignment, proprietary software and Web site, and modular construction to lower capital costs.

Williams says his goal is to help other small, emerging franchisors succeed. “Once I attain my CFE, I want to lead education and discussion groups specifically designed for small and emerging concepts,” he said. “New franchisors are the future of franchising and we should do all within our power to see that they flourish.”

The Gray Plant Mooty Foundation grant specified that the CFE scholarship award go to franchisors that have been franchising less than five years. “New franchisors often do not have adequate resources to invest in education to make them better franchisors,” said John Fitzgerald, CFE, principal, Gray Plant Mooty. “We wanted to target leaders with young franchise companies,” he added.

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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 over 50 years of excellence, education and advocacy, IFA works through its government relations and public policy, media relations and educational programs to protect, enhance and promote franchising. Through its media awareness campaign highlighting the theme, Franchising: Building Local Businesses, One Opportunity at a Time, IFA promotes the economic impact of the more than 825,000 franchise establishments, which support nearly 18 million jobs and $2.1 trillion of economic output for the U.S. economy. IFA members include franchise companies in over 300 different business format categories, individual franchisees and companies that support the industry in marketing, law and business development.