The President and CEO talks about herself, leadership, growth, customer focus, and the role of franchise-management technology.
Tell us about yourself.
Gabby Wong: I’ve spent the better part of my 25-year career focusing on the nexus between business transformation and leveraging enterprise-class technology to solve complex business problems.
I started my career in management consulting at PriceWaterhouse, now PwC, and later transitioned to Deloitte Consulting’s strategy and process practice, where I used customer analytics to help Fortune 1000 clients develop new offerings, transform operations, and grow revenue.
That work led me into private-equity-backed software and high-growth technology companies. I held leadership roles across customer analytics, customer success, customer experience, and global operations at companies including Primavera Systems, Trusted Computer Solutions, Verint Systems, and Clarabridge.
I see customer analytics and understanding the customer and market viewpoints as central to driving business growth and performance improvement. When I joined FranConnect as EVP of Customer Operations in 2016, I led a transformation focused on customer success and scalability. In 2019, I moved into the role of President and CEO.
What is FranConnect in a nutshell?
Wong: FranConnect’s mission is to partner with the franchise market to grow successful franchise systems. Franchise brands cannot grow sustainably unless the units themselves grow. Successful brands need to focus not only on unit count, but on unit-level performance and optimization.
Our technology supports key parts of that lifecycle: selling and expanding new franchises, improving unit operations and performance, growing revenue streams, maintaining brand consistency, and strengthening franchisor-franchisee engagement.
Is FranConnect cloud-based?
Wong: Yes. FranConnect is a cloud-based platform designed to be interoperable, available, scalable, secure, and accessible to a distributed workforce.
We also continue to invest in analytics and operational intelligence. The goal is to move beyond static reporting toward actionable insights, operational playbooks, and workflows targeted to the stakeholders who can act on them.
How did you become President and CEO?
Wong: I think it reflects how important the Voice of the Customer has become in driving a successful business. In Customer Operations I had the opportunity to understand customer needs, where the market was heading, and where gaps existed in our offerings. Our investors and management team asked me to lead a multi-year growth and business plan, and after its approval I was appointed CEO.
What does FranConnect focus on?
Wong: Growth. Our core mission is growing brands, but we also think about the growth of our own company and the growth of our people. Being part of an entrepreneurial business means employees should have opportunities to learn, stretch, and advance.
How has FranConnect evolved?
Wong: We’ve transformed our strategy and culture by examining the market, clarifying our mission, defining a multi-year growth strategy, and building a culture where growth-minded thinking and customer value are central.
What do executive conversations focus on?
Wong: Three areas: customers, employees, and the future of the business and franchise market.
We embed customer feedback into product decisions, roadmap planning, service experience, and employee measurement. We also spend significant time on employee growth and on where innovation can help customers and the broader franchise market succeed.
What drives value for franchisors?
Wong: Unit growth, system revenue, profitability, and market penetration all matter, but underneath them are information, prioritization, and actionability.
The franchise model is both distributed and interconnected. Technology creates value by improving the flow of information across that network, consolidating data, improving planning, and standardizing operational processes so the whole system can perform better.
How were you able to scale?
Wong: Scaling is a function of mission, strategy, process, measurement, and people. Start with a multi-year strategy, translate it into operating processes, use data and metrics to measure the transformation, and align people around the mission and the “why.”
How do you keep growing big?
Wong: Growing big means thinking big. I make time to collect and process customer, market, employee, board, mentor, peer-group, and executive-coach feedback. Leaders need both input and space to think.
How do you know you’re doing the right thing?
Wong: Metrics matter, but how you achieve results matters too. When employees help one another, celebrate each other’s successes, and enjoy the experience of working together, that tells me the organization is building something meaningful.
What kind of leader are you?
Wong: Mindful and grateful. Mindful of the market, where we are, and where we need to go; grateful to be part of a market that celebrates entrepreneurialism, thought leadership, and growth.
