Expand and open locations faster
Sales
Opener
Ensure quality and compliance across all locations
Brand Consistency
Performance
RizePoint QMS Optik IQ™Centrally manage agreements and location data
Analytics
Command Center
Info ManagerCollaborate, onboard and retain owners and employees
Hub
Training and Development
On June 28th, 2023, I had the pleasure of hosting on behalf of FranConnect a webinar entitled “Franchise Royalties Unleashed: Tools and Tactics for Growth”. During the session, I conducted a pulse survey consisting of questions on royalty management, trends, and rate structures.
McLEAN, Va. – (June 6, 2023) – The Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC), the trade association representing the region’s technology community, announced the winners for its 2023 Greater Washington Technology CFO Awards at an awards ceremony last night. This is the 27th year for this annual awards program, which is dedicated to celebrating leading finance professionals and officers across the greater Washington region.
“This year’s CFO Award winners represent the leading minds in finance and technology,” said Jennifer Taylor, president and CEO of NVTC. “We’re honored to recognize their hard work and celebrate the individual achievements that have led Northern Virginia to become one of the leading technology hubs in the nation.”
“Our region’s technology sector has experienced a massive boom in recent years, becoming the area of choice for everything from early-stage startups to established market leaders,” said Shiv Varma, partner, KPMG and chair of this year’s CFO Awards program. “The CFO Awards mark an important milestone every year as we gather together to celebrate the innovative finance professionals that have made that growth possible.”
In addition to the traditional Public Company, Private Company, and Emerging Growth CFOs of the Year, the CFO Awards judges selected a winner from the finalists for a new category that was created. The Transaction of the Year award celebrates a CFO that stood out for their role in completing a significant business transaction during the year, and this year’s winner is Jeff Cook, of Octo, who was recognized for his role in Octo’s recent acquisition by IBM.
Finally, NVTC also recognized the Michael G. Devine Hall of Fame Award honoree, Rick Nadeau, and the 2023 Class of Rising Stars at last night’s awards ceremony. An independent panel of former CFO Awards winners selected this year’s winners in five award categories.
The 2023 NVTC Technology CFO Awards winners are:
Emerging Growth CFO of the Year:
Andrew Volkmann, FranConnect
Private Company CFOs of the Year:
Joe Harar, EdgeConneX
Silvana Hernandez, Pavion
Public Company CFO of the Year:
Susan Lynch, V2X, Inc.
Transaction of the Year:
Jeff Cook, Octo
2023 Class of Rising Stars:
Zach Blaine, Expel
Paul Donnell, FiscalNote
Emily Lane, Arcfield
Tim Mulieri, GTT Communications, Inc.
Matthew Robarge, Cision
Samantha Ross, Unanet
Amanda Williams, IonQ
Contact
Tarin Horan
Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC)
thoran@nvtc.org
703.946.0319
About the Northern Virginia Technology Council
NVTC is the trade association representing the Northern Virginia technology community. As one of the nation’s largest technology councils, NVTC serves companies from all sectors of the industry, from small businesses and startups to Fortune 100 technology companies, government contractors, as well as service providers, academic institutions, and nonprofit organizations. More than 460 members look to the organization as a resource for networking and educational opportunities, peer-to-peer communities, policy advocacy, industry promotion, fostering of strategic relationships, and branding of the region as a major global technology center. Learn more at www.nvtc.org.
SYDNEY, May 24, 2023 — FranConnect, the leading franchise and multi-location management software provider, is excited to announce its expansion into the A/NZ and APAC markets. This marks an important milestone for FranConnect as it continues to grow its global footprint on the heels of its strategic acquisition of World Manager. Under the consolidated company, FranConnect offers the most comprehensive franchise and multi-location management solutions to franchisors and multi-location businesses in the market globally.
LinkedIn is a powerful platform for attracting new franchisees if you know how to use it. It lets you showcase your achievements, share business updates with potential partners and engage them directly on what is generally considered a “trusted platform.” The key to ensuring success on LinkedIn is to optimize your profile, and there are a few ways to do that.
A customer relationship management (CRM) system helps companies track, monitor, analyze, and report on different types of customer data. Your company can later use data to predict customer buying patterns and develop sound marketing strategies through strong and personalized customer relationships.
When franchises want to grow their business, having a streamlined platform to view customer information, such as contact information, preferences, buying trends, or shopping challenges, can help them build strong customer relationships.
Using a CRM system for a franchise can be highly beneficial. For example, a CRM can assist with the following:
Without customer relationship management software, franchises will likely lose out on potential customer relationships and sales opportunities. Automation helps free up time staff members may have been spending on manual tasks like phone calls and email writing. Your sales and marketing teams can use data from CRM platforms to inform their next advertisement or build personalized sales pitches for customers. Building a solid customer relationship starts with reliance on a good CRM system.
The right CRM software helps your sales by tracking and managing potential customers through a sales pipeline. Many CRM systems have specific features designed to help you automate mundane or time-consuming tasks, leaving your team free to work on what really draws in customers.
For example, CRM systems help you manage customer data more easily. Perhaps you want to organize data like customer preferences, buying habits, or seasonal trends. A CRM platform allows you to organize and locate data points whenever and wherever you need them, freeing time for your sales representatives. Now, they can spend more time focusing on selling to the right customers rather than organizing, collecting, and coordinating information.
Responding to potential leads quickly and effectively is one of the most important parts of sales. But many leads end up falling by the wayside, whether due to negligence or lack of response time. For example, many sales teams’ average lead response time is 47 hours, with some leads not getting contacted at all. This delay means many customers won’t receive your company’s messages or find out about your product.
Using a CRM system can automate and organize your leads, helping your sales team improve their response rates. Businesses that reach out to customers within an hour are more likely to have an impactful conversation. Responding quickly to leads can mean more sales, and timing emails for specific customers may increase conversions.
A CRM can help your business improve its sales through several means. From focusing your sales pipeline to increasing engagement or automating responses, your team can increase response rates and drive more customers to your business. Here are nine sales benefits of a CRM:
Using CRM franchise management software can help you find the right customers for your business while building solid customer relationships. Reaching the right customers is essential to bring in a higher amount of sales. An automated, well-organized CRM platform assists your team members in building solid relationships by streamlining the sales process.
One of the best ways to reach the right customers is to establish a strong relationship and build trust. Customers want to know that your company’s products and services are reliable and helpful. CRM systems can gather data about customer preferences and needs to determine specific ways to reach and keep them engaged. When you show you understand your client’s wants and needs, customers are more likely to trust your business.
Another way to develop a strong customer relationship is to make your company stand out from the competition. Whether through the product itself or exceptional customer service, clients want to know they are important and their needs are being met. Show that you can keep up with fast response times and helpful service to keep customers coming back.
CRM systems can also help you better understand your customers’ business and shopping practices. You can view their history of interacting with your company and use the information to build a strong relationship of trust and success. Here are a few other ways that CRMs can improve your customer relationships:
The best CRM for franchises can help grow your business with streamlined and organized processes. Customer relationship management software can make client communications faster and easier by organizing customer contact information and data in one place. Sales representatives no longer have to spend time gathering contact information before calling or emailing customers. The CRM platform can comprise groups or sets of relevant customers, email them personalized messages, and keep up with buying and shopping trends.
Another way that a CRM can help your business is by keeping track of leads and improving lead response time. As stated before, many leads can fall to the wayside without the proper organization, documentation, or correspondence. A CRM gives staff members reminders and goals on reaching out to customers quickly to increase sales and profits.
A CRM system may also help your company track the lead sources to determine where the best customers come from. Leads may be sourced from anywhere — social media ads, email campaigns, or online content. You can track data from each area and determine where most of your leads are originating. Once you have this information, sales and marketing team members can focus on drawing specific customers from those leads and increasing profit.
The process of sales development for franchises can be highly complex. However, using a CRM can simplify the process of selling a product or service. When the CRM streamlines your organizational methods, your company can focus on pitches that imagine your products as more than just items. They’re a business endeavor or a change in scenery. You can focus on building genuine relationships that keep your best customers engaged and feeling appreciated.
Using the right technology and resources, such as a reliable CRM system, can help your business improve its customer service and employee productivity. CRM systems organize and automate your processes while providing resources such as customer engagement data, buyer information, and other relevant documents that you might not otherwise have easy access to.
A CRM platform also helps your employees spend more time on high-value tasks. Many businesses find their teams struggling to maintain productive work hours when their time is consumed with manual, low-value tasks like finding contact information, entering data, or building lists and schedules from scratch. A CRM system can organize and automate many tasks, making completing sales pitches and email campaigns easier than ever in record time. You won’t have to wait for employees to search for contact information or finish entering data. A CRM platform takes customer data and compiles records and information on its own, allowing your employees to focus on what really matters — selling your products and services.
CRM systems also help you connect with more customers. By depending on an automated system, your employees have more time to build strong customer relationships. From your sales representatives to your customer service team to your marketing members, employees can spend more time speaking with potential customers and strengthening relationships with existing clients.
A CRM system can help you improve transparent reporting for your marketing and sales initiatives. Track what sources may bring you the most leads and work to create marketing or sales goals around those areas. For example, you may discover that your email campaigns or social media channels bring in more customers than your website or cold calls. A CRM system automatically analyzes lead sources and suggests the best areas to focus your initiatives. Sales teams can also use this information for future reporting.
Your sales process also becomes more streamlined when you use a CRM system. Improve customer retention by creating reports on various sales leads and customer information. A CRM platform lets you see which initiatives perform well and which need more work. You can then put your money into operations that perform better and bring in more customers or appeal to repeat customers.
By reinvesting in sources that yield the greatest ROI, your company can improve its processes and increase sales. A CRM system can be a reliable way to track your sales pipeline and focus on real-time reports of customer data and incoming profits.
Using a CRM for your business sales initiatives allows you to track leads and decide how many to assign to team members at each stage. A CRM system organizes your sales and marketing processes so you can use reports effectively. Here are a few reports that a CRM system helps you to manage:
You can make better business decisions by analyzing and tracking consistent information about your leads. When you have a reliable CRM system, you can see significant improvements in your marketing strategies.
By partnering with FranConnect, your company can develop new business processes and increase company growth and profits. Our company offers CRM software and learning management systems (LMS) for your business needs, whether you want to track customer information and data or free up time for staff to spend on high-value tasks.
However you choose to use our platforms, we are dedicated to providing exceptional customer service. Our customer relationship management platform helps your business increase profits and grow into a successful company. Improve your daily operations by learning what your customers want and need and cater your sales and marketing operations towards that data.
As a leading franchise management software provider, we give your company the necessary solutions to scale your business. Every part of your franchise can be on the same page, from your sales and marketing teams to your CEO, performance managers, and executive leaders. Use the CRM platform to organize and manage customer data anytime and anywhere.
Contact us today to request a demo or explore our platform on our website. By connecting with our franchising experts, your business will find answers to your software questions and CRM needs. We’ll show you how to use FranConnect to grow your business with accurate and effective sales data.
Gabby Wong is a seasoned operator with nearly 30 years of experience in positioning private equity-backed software and SaaS businesses for high-growth. She has deep experience in all aspects of growing technology businesses, including M&A, corporate strategy, product innovation, customer success, marketing and sales. Gabby has held successive leadership roles within FranConnect, joining first in 2016 as EVP of Operations and took the helm as CEO in 2018. Over the last six years, under her leadership, FranConnect’s revenue has grown by 5X and continues to lead the market in providing best-in-class sales, operations, and marketing solutions for franchise and multi-location businesses. After completing three acquisitions in four years, FranConnect has over 300 employees globally across US, Canada, India, and Australia, and serves over 1500 brands and 1 million locations worldwide. Gabby has been named an EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award Mid-Atlantic Finalist in 2022 and 2023. Prior to FranConnect, Gabby held executive leadership positions with worldwide operating roles at Primavera Systems (now Oracle), Trusted Computer Solutions (now EverFox/ForcePoint), Vovici (now Verint Systems), and Clarabridge (now Qualtrics).
As Chief Financial Officer, Andy works closely with the Chief Executive Officer, the executive leadership team, and the Board in developing and executing the Company’s organic and inorganic growth strategy. In 2023, he was named Emerging Growth CFO of the Year by Northern Virginia Tech Council. This prestigious award recognizes top finance leaders for their extraordinary achievements and excellence in advancing the economic development of the region’s technology community. Volkmann brings more than 25 years of experience in emerging and mature companies in the software, robotics, and web retailing sectors, including with brands such as Hitachi, Tellme Networks, Inc., Netscape, and MinuteKEY.
Ian WalshAs COO, Ian Walsh is responsible for Strategy and Commercialization, Professional Services, Customer Success and Partners at FranConnect. Ian is an accomplished B2B executive with a track record of driving results at companies including CEB/Gartner, Software AG, SAP, MicroStrategy and CARTO.
Asadorian oversees FranConnect’s global go-to-market and revenue organization, including new customer acquisition, customer expansion, new market development, pre-sales consulting, and revenue operations, bolstering FranConnect's continued year-over-year growth. He previously held leadership roles at SevenRooms, Peloton and Hillstone Restaurant Group.
As CTO, Andrew is responsible for Product Architecture, Development and Deployment at FranConnect. Andrew has 30+ years’ experience leading global teams delivering highly scalable SaaS solutions for Telecoms, Media and Payments businesses. Prior to joining FranConnect, Andrew was CTO at Arterra Mobility; he has also held leadership positions at Synchronoss and Neustar.
As Chief AI Officer, Jaffrey Ali leads FranConnect’s efforts to harness artificial intelligence in transforming franchise operations. He is responsible for driving innovation through intelligent automation, predictive analytics, and data-driven insights that empower brands to make smarter decisions and achieve measurable business outcomes. With a deep understanding of product strategy and customer needs, he will guide the development of AI capabilities that enhance operational efficiency and unlock new growth opportunities for franchise and multi-location businesses.
As SVP of Marketing, Lorena Garcia is responsible for the entire end-to-end marketing function at FranConnect, including driving growth through innovative and scalable practices in account-based marketing, lead generation, market analysis, customer segmentation, digital marketing, and brand stewardship. Previously, Lorena led go-to-market teams and demand generation at technology companies including Level Access, Hobsons, Vonage and iCore Networks.
As the General Manager of Australia/New Zealand (ANZ), Paul is responsible for all go-to-market activities for FranConnect in ANZ, including strategy, sales, customer success and the continued growth of all FranConnect product lines in ANZ. He has held senior leadership roles at Nexon, IBM, Samsung, and NTT Ltd, with extensive experience leading sales, product, and marketing teams. t, and marketing teams. As the General Manager of Australia/New Zealand (ANZ), Paul is responsible for all go-to-market activities for FranConnect in ANZ, including strategy, sales, customer success and the continued growth of all FranConnect product lines in ANZ.
Stephanie oversees the global people operations across multiple countries including the US, Canada, India, Australia, and Colombia. Over the last five years, Stephanie has led the notable journey of building a solid foundation that supports our hardworking employees. She has successfully built programs that improve employee engagement and efficiency to ensure that FranConnect is a company of choice for top talent. Prior to joining FranConnect, Stephanie started and spent most of her HR career working for a leading tax publisher.
As Chief of Staff, Trevor leads the detailed planning, cross-functional coordination, and management of key strategic initiatives. Previously, he was the Sr. Director of Finance and Chief of Staff at NetDocuments, where he led strategic planning, M&A activities, and FP&A. Prior to that, Trevor held various finance positions at Owlet Baby Care, Ivanti Software, and IndustryPro M&A Advisors.
As President of RizePoint, Kari is responsible for the overall strategy, vision and execution of the company. Kari works to ensure RizePoint is a dedicated partner in helping customers drive continuous improvement to product quality and client experiences. Tapping into over 25 years of software product and Customer leadership positions at Workfront, Optimum Energy, and Microsoft.
Lisa leads FranConnect’s global professional services, technology services, training, customer success and customer support teams. She also oversee all facets of the customer experience strategy, focusing on enhancing the value delivered to customers and supporting innovation and growth. She boasts over 15 years of experience in building customer experience organizations at leading tech companies including Accenture, Prove and ID.me.
Vikram Raj has over 15 years of experience in franchise and multi-location management software. As the Senior Vice President of Products & Sales Engineering at FranConnect, he drives the product roadmap by combining industry insight with customer feedback to foster continuous innovation. His responsibilities include leading cross-functional teams to align product priorities with market trends, guiding clients in evaluating technical solutions, and demonstrating the measurable value FranConnect’s platform provides. During his tenure at FranConnect, Vikram has led the release of new products and offerings that increased user adoption and contributed to double-digit annual revenue growth. He emphasizes data-driven decision-making, transparent collaboration, and a strong focus on measurable results—approaches that have strengthened FranConnect’s market position and delivered sustained value to its growing global customer base.
As Chief Customer Officer, Adam leads FranConnect’s customer success, professional services, and support teams, driving strategic initiatives that maximize customer value and long-term growth. With over 30 years of experience in B2B SaaS, Adam brings a cross-functional leadership approach shaped by roles across Customer, Product, Operations, and Sales.
Adam has held key executive positions at high-growth technology companies including CallMiner and most recently Cresta, where he helped scale customer experience and AI-driven solutions for enterprise clients. His leadership is grounded in a deep commitment to customer outcomes, with Net Retention as his guiding metric. Adam is passionate about building customer-first cultures and delivering innovative solutions that unlock measurable impact.
As CFO & COO, Charlie Zhang plays a pivotal role in aligning FranConnect’s financial strategy with its operational execution. He is responsible for driving fiscal discipline while enabling scalable growth and innovation across the organization. Charlie’s dual leadership ensures that the company remains agile and resilient as it expands its footprint in the franchise and multi-location technology space.
Charlie brings a wealth of experience in financial strategy, corporate development, and operational leadership, with a background spanning investment banking, private equity, and technology. Prior to joining FranConnect, he served as CFO of ION Analytics, where he led global financial operations for a data and software company serving capital markets.
As Chief Product Officer, Mark Calvillo is responsible for shaping FranConnect’s product vision and translating it into a strategic roadmap that delivers measurable impact for customers. His leadership will focus on evolving the platform in alignment with market needs, driving innovation, and ensuring product excellence across the board.
Mark brings over two decades of experience in product leadership, most recently at Restaurant365. Known for his customer-first mindset and ability to turn insights into scalable solutions, Mark will guide FranConnect’s product strategy to support growth and deepen value for franchise and multi-location businesses.
Bart Van Dessel leads FranConnect’s efforts to forge strategic partnerships, drive customer acquisition, and expand enterprise-level engagement. He is responsible for building and scaling high-performing sales programs that deepen customer relationships and maximize the value of FranConnect’s franchise management platform.
Bart brings over a decade of experience in enterprise and B2B sales within the software and services industries. Since joining FranConnect, he has driven growth across key verticals by aligning consultative selling with solutions tailored to franchise and multi-location businesses.
As Chief Revenue Officer, Ayron McLochlin leads FranConnect’s global go‑to‑market and revenue organization. He is responsible for driving new customer acquisition, accelerating customer expansion, developing new markets, and overseeing pre‑sales consulting and revenue operations to support FranConnect’s continued year‑over‑year growth.
With more than 15 years of leadership experience in enterprise software, SaaS, and technology‑enabled services—and over a decade working with Private Equity–backed companies across Vista Equity Partners, K1, and MidOcean Partners—Ayron brings a proven track record of scaling organizations ranging from $10M to $600M in revenue. Known for his ability to transform commercial teams, he specializes in building high‑performing sales, marketing, customer success, and RevOps functions that create predictable and repeatable growth
As Chief of Staff, Ali Muskett serves as a strategic partner to the CEO and CFO/COO, supporting critical cross-functional initiatives that advance FranConnect's key organizational priorities. She coordinates high-impact projects spanning multiple departments, ensures organizational alignment, and translates strategic vision into executable plans while maintaining accountability across initiatives.
Ali brings over five years of experience in the franchising space, having worked directly with hundreds of franchisors throughout her career. Her background includes leading high-performing sales teams and executing strategic initiatives that drive measurable results. Known for her ability to align cross-functional teams and support execution, Ali combines franchise industry expertise with strong leadership skills to help accelerate FranConnect's growth and operational excellence.
As Chief of Staff, Ali Muskett serves as a strategic partner to the CEO and CFO/COO, supporting critical cross-functional initiatives that advance FranConnect's key organizational priorities. She coordinates high-impact projects spanning multiple departments, ensures organizational alignment, and translates strategic vision into executable plans while maintaining accountability across initiatives.
Ali brings over five years of experience in the franchising space, having worked directly with hundreds of franchisors throughout her career. Her background includes leading high-performing sales teams and executing strategic initiatives that drive measurable results. Known for her ability to align cross-functional teams and support execution, Ali combines franchise industry expertise with strong leadership skills to help accelerate FranConnect's growth and operational excellence.
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