Greg Flynn

Greg Flynn is the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Flynn Group and Flynn Properties. With 3,000+ Applebee’s, Taco Bells, Paneras, Arby’s, Pizza Huts, Wendy’s and Planet Fitness units generating $5.0+ billion in sales and employing 78,000+ people in 44 states and 3 countries, Flynn Group is the largest franchise operator in the world. Flynn Properties invests in commercial real estate and has owned and managed more than 4 million square feet since its founding in 1994; it also owns 100+ hotels including the luxury resorts Esperanza and Chileno Bay, both located in Los Cabos, Mexico, the Carneros Resort and Solage, both located in the Napa Valley, the Hotel Madeline in Telluride, and the Huntington Hotel in San Francisco.

Greg has been recognized as one of the Bay Area’s Most Admired CEOs by the San Francisco Business Times, as Restaurant Leader of the Year by Restaurant Business Magazine, as Operator of the Year by Nation’s Restaurant News, as Dealmaker of the Year by the Franchise Times, and as an Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst and Young. He has been named Applebee’s Franchisee of the Year and Operator of the Year five times each, and has also been named Franchisee of the Year for Arby’s, Wendy’s, and Pizza Hut. In 2026 he was inducted into the International Franchise Association Hall of Fame, named Dealmaker of the Year by the San Francisco Business Times, and named San Franciscan of the Year by the SF Examiner.

Greg has an AB Magna Cum Laude from Brown University (where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in his junior year), an MA in American History from Yale University, an MBA from the Stanford GSB, and an honorary Doctorate of Culinary Arts from the Culinary Institute of America. He serves on the boards of the National Restaurant Association and the International Franchise Association. He also serves on the Stanford GSB Advisory Council, the Brown University President’s Leadership Council, and the Applebee’s Franchise Business Council. In 2025 he was named Honorary Consul for the Republic of Poland in San Francisco. He is a past chairman of the Golden Gate Chapter of the Young Presidents Organization, a past Member of the Brown University Advisory Council for the College, a past member of the Yale GSAS Advisory Board, and a past member of the Board of the Exploratorium.