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2016 FranTech Speaker Biographies
Zak Barron
Zak Barron is the Area Director of Central United States for Constant Contact. Mr. Barron is Constant Contact’s educational marketing expert in the mountain states region (CO, UT, WY, MT), and Area Director for the Northwest United States and Canada. Mr. Barron has 14 years’ experience supporting small business, with a background in sales, marketing, customer service and education. He is involved with many civic and business organizations throughout the region, and draws from his experience to be a valuable resource to small businesses, non-profits and associations in the mountain states region. Mr. Barron is a regular contributor to numerous industry blogs, podcasts, and radio programs. He educated more than 35,000 small businesses in 5 years on behalf of Constant Contact. Mr. Barron has held multiple positions at Constant Contact and prior to Constant Contact, he has worked in sales for Miller/Coors, had his own consulting business, and spent time in management at a small oil and gas company.
Robert Connelly
Robert Connelly is the Technology Marketing Manager for The UPS Store, Inc. Prior to his current position, Mr. Connelly has held positions as a Programmer, Web Developer, Lead Business Analyst and Quality Assurance Manager. In his current role, Robert leads a team that supports The UPS Store Marketing department to implement technology solutions. His team manages the company’s customer facing websites, location management programs and franchisee productivity initiatives.
Tom Epstein, CFE
Tom Epstein is the CEO of Franchise Payments Network. In 1998, Mr. Epstein decided to trade in his successful career in retail management and tackle the payment processing industry. He dove in
headfirst, working for the world’s largest processor of credit card transactions. It was here that he took interest in the franchising world—he created the franchise sales vertical for First Data and also became heavily involved with the IFA (International Franchise Association) and the National Restaurant
Association. After more than 5 years of making connections and strengthening ties in the franchise world, Mr. Epstein decided to launch Franchise Payments Network—a vehicle solely dedicated to delivering the best possible payment processing solutions to franchisors and their franchisees. FPN works exclusively in the franchise space, utilizing Mr. Epstein’s extensive knowledge in retail and payment processing to facilitate the unique needs of franchise systems. Today, in addition to his role as CEO of FPN, Mr. Epstein continues to work with the IFA, serving on Supplier Forum, The Technology Committee, FranPAC supporter, host of IFA FBN (Franchise Business Network) in Orlando, has been published in all major Franchise Trades as well a sponsor of countless industry events though out the year. Mr. Epstein also earned his CFE (Certified Franchise Executive) designation in 2007.
2 Pam Harper
Pam Harper is the Vice President of Marketing for The Dwyer Group®. Ms. Harper provides leadership for the in-house team of marketing, communications and creative professionals responsible for
marketing all of The Dwyer Group brands. She began her career at The Dwyer Group in October of 2012 as the Senior Marketing Director. Her extensive knowledge and experience in the marketing field and within the trade services positioned her well to lead the marketing initiatives for all of The Dwyer Group brands. Ms. Harper began her franchising experience while serving as the marketing director for Martin Franchises Inc. (One Hour Martinizing). Her career grew as she moved on to serve in a variety of
marketing and advertising roles with several national brands serving the trades industry, including Service Experts – owned (at the time) by Lennox International, to ARS/Rescue Rooter – owned (at the time) by Service Master, where she developed strong skills in collaborating with leadership to produce measurable growth results. Prior to joining The Dwyer Group, Ms. Harper was the owner and president of a marketing and advertising consulting firm that worked with residential and commercial service contractors throughout the United States.
Chel Heler
Chel Heler is a Strategic Partner Manager for the Google Channel Sales team. He is credited with helping to build the franchise team from scratch and establishing industry relationships with all the major franchise associations. He is also member of the marketing/technology committee for the IFA. Mr. Heler created the Google Franchise Industry Executive Summit (GIFA). Now Mr. Heler is focusing on global expansion in franchising and developing new verticals for Channel Sales.
Whitney Hepp
Whitney Hepp is the Director of Local Marketing & International Marketing & Development Manager for Kampgrounds of America. Since arriving at Kampgrounds of America in 2013, Ms. Hepp quickly became an integral player in KOA’s Marketing Department. She currently oversees KOA local marketing strategy development, corporately owned properties marketing, international marketing, and heads the local marketing team. Ms. Hepp has a bachelor’s degree in Public Relations from Boston University, is a Graduate Gemologist from the Gemology Institute of America, and has a master’s in business administration from the University of Montana. She was previously the Director of Marketing and Operations at TerraEchos, a big data government contractor; and a junior reporter/global service manager for the International Diamond Exchange (IDEX).
Mark Liston, CFE
Mark Liston is the President of Glass Doctor, one of The Dwyer Group concepts, with over 300 offices throughout North America. For over 30 years Mark has been involved with franchise and dealer
organizations – at the franchisor and franchisee level. Mark joined Glass Doctor in early 2010 as the Vice President of Operation. Before joining Glass Doctor Mark spent eight years with Valpak where he first got involved with several of IFA’s boards. Mark is the past Chairman of the ICFE Board of Governors and a member of IFA’s Education Foundation’s Board of Trustees. He and his wife, Mary Kay, reside in Waco, TX.
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Adam Long, CFE
Adam Long is a Vice President at HomeTeam Inspection Service, responsible for all technology management. He oversees both software and website development as well as digital marketing for HomeTeam. Mr. Long has over 10 years’ experience in technology management and an MBA. He has managed technology for both House Doctors Handyman Service and HomeTeam Inspection Service during his career in franchising. Mr. Long is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio where he resides with his wife and children.
Jeremy Lynch
Jeremy Lynch works on Facebook's Small and Medium Business Community Engagement team at its Headquarters in Menlo Park, CA. He supports programs that help small businesses and their
communities better understand how to use Facebook to connect and grow. Prior to joining Facebook, Mr. Lynch was consulting with businesses across a variety of their community and marketing needs. Mr. Lynch has his BA from the University of Denver.
Renee Maloney, CFE
Renee Maloney is the owner of Painting with a Twist, LLC with her business partner Cathy Deano in Mandeville, Louisiana. The concept pairs instructional art with friends, wine and a lively instructor to produce individual works of art. With 4 locations in the Greater New Orleans Area, the company began franchising the business as Painting with a Twist® in 2009. To date, 217 franchise locations have been licensed in 27 states. Renee and Cathy now own 6 studios. In just 7 years, along with our 217 franchise locations, has produced and owns the copyright to over 5,500 pieces of art. Each artwork was
conceptualized and executed by the instructors with the idea of being an easy to follow piece of art for the inexperienced painter. The artwork ranges from landscapes, abstracts and cityscapes, to creative renderings of seafood, animals, iconic buildings and florals. Because the company owners were both fundraisers in their previous positions, they have maintained that a core value of the company is to be an active member of the community and to focus on giving back. With this in mind, Painting with a Purpose was created. To date Painting with a Twist has raised over $1,000,000. For non-profits in the areas where they have franchises.
Martin McDonald
Martin McDonald is the Senior Director of Strategic Development for G/O Digital. He has been with G/O Digital since March 2012 but has worked in the digital world since 1997. Mr. McDonald brings a passion for digital marketing and loves working with brands, both large and small. He has worked with some of the biggest names in the franchise space, from Massage Envy and AAMCO to Menchie's and SYNERGY HomeCare. He believes in creating strategic marketing plans that are easily executed, trackable and generate ROI. Outside of digital marketing, Mr. McDonald runs a 9U club baseball team called the Dusters. He married his high school sweetheart and they have two wonderful kids, ages 9 and 7.
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Shayne Mehringer
Shayne Mehringer is the Chief Information Officer for The Dwyer Group®. As the chief information officer he provides oversight, business transformation and leadership for all of the company’s information technology needs to improve program performance and to manage risk for The Dwyer Group portfolio companies. Mr. Mehringer began his career as a network analyst with IBM and then was one of the original employees of Integrated Electrical Services, a service provider consisting of more than 150 commercial contractors all over the United States and generating $3.4 billion in revenue annually. Mr. Mehringer also founded a Y2K conversion management consulting company, followed by a series new businesses ranging from SaaS services to commercial printing and manufacturing. Before joining The Dwyer Group, Mr. Mehringer served as senior vice president for a Mark Cuban-owned data center and cloud services company in Dallas, Texas, where he focused on delivering cloud-based technology solutions, worldwide sales and strategic marketing in the enterprise space.
Catherine Monson, CFE
Catherine Monson is the CEO of FASTSIGNS® International, Inc. the worldwide franchisor for the more than 570 FASTSIGNS® sign and graphic centers. With over 30 years of experience in the franchise industry, she has been instrumental in advancing the processes and functions of several franchise systems while also focusing on how to improve franchisee satisfaction. She has extensive experience in operations, franchise development, sales, training and marketing/communications. In 2009, she was the recipient of the IFA’s prestigious Bonny LeVine Award. In July 2010 she was honored by the Dallas Business Journal as one of the top 25 Women Industry Leaders in the Dallas Metroplex and in 2012, Ms. Monson appeared on the two-time Emmy Award-nominated reality serious, Undercover Boss, to learn new ways to further advance the FASTSIGNS brand.
Jenna Nichols
Jenna Nichols is a Strategic Partner Development Manager on the Google Consumer Surveys team, specializing in partnerships with third-parties and leading the channel business. She also manages the GCS nonprofit and education programs. Since joining Google in 2010, she has worked across a variety of B2B products including Apps, Offers, and AdWords. Ms. Nichols holds a BSBA from the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, and is based in San Francisco.
Corey O’Donnell
Corey O’Donnell is the Vice President of National Marketing for Yodle, responsible for all aspects of Yodle’s Centermark platform marketing efforts. He is an avid follower of new technologies and has a voracious appetite for tech news and products, which allows him to stay ahead of the curve and provide vision and insight for Yodle’s franchise partnerships. Mr. O’Donnell has over 20 years’ experience in marketing, sales and product management for high-tech solutions. He joined Yodle in 2012, following roles leading product and marketing for software firms serving higher education and computer security.
5 Clinton Scott
Clinton is a Channel Sales Account Manager at Google responsible for supporting partners' goals around same store growth, account health and performance. From optimizing very small accounts one-by-one to managing health and performance at scale across thousands of accounts, he has had a positive impact on partner goals and ROI. Mr. Scott has worked on the East and West coasts of the USA as well as in Australia to create opportunities for growth.
Lind Shaub, CFE
Linda Shaub is the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Brand for Interim HealthCare Inc. She is responsible for the company's brand management and strategic development and implementation of all marketing initiatives designed to drive growth throughout the franchise network. This includes new product development, marketing training and support, website development and management (external and intranet) social media, market research, public relations and national advertising.
Previously, Ms. Shaub was the General Manager of an advertising agency specializing in the health care and movie industries. She has more than 20 years of franchise, health care and hospital system
marketing and brand experience. Earlier in her career, Ms. Shaub worked for one of the leading national public accounting firms in the area of market development. She serves as Vice Chairman of the IFA Marketing and Technology Committee.
Brian Spindel, CFE
Brian Spindel is Co-Founder and President/COO PostNet International Franchise Corporation where he is directly responsible for the development and operation of both domestic PostNet franchised locations including franchise support, communications programs and technology initiatives. Mr. Spindel is also responsible for the development of PostNet’s training program for master licensees and the
documentation of that program in PostNet’s manuals. Prior to co-founding PostNet, Mr. Spindel held positions such as System Coordinator, Marketing Consultant, National Sales Manager, and National Training Director for a predecessor development company in the postal center industry.
Mike Walsh
Mike Walsh is the CEO of Tomorrow, a global consultancy on designing business for the 21st century. He advises leaders on how to thrive in this era of disruptive technological change. His clients include many of the global Fortune 500, and as a sought-after keynote speaker he regularly shares the stage with world leaders and business icons alike. Mr. Walsh previously founded Jupiter Research in Australia, and has also held senior strategy roles at News Corporation in the Asia Pacific Region. His best-selling book FUTURETAINMENT, published by Phaidon was the winner of the design award by the Art Director’s Club in New York. Mr. Walsh’s latest book is The Dictionary of Dangerous Ideas.