Edith Wiseman is the President of FRANdata, a leading franchise market research and advisory firm based in Arlington, Virginia. With over 24 years of experience in the franchising industry, Edith has become a transformative leader, turning complex data into actionable strategies that drive growth and innovation. Her visionary approach has expanded FRANdata’s capabilities, delivering cutting-edge insights that empower franchisors, lenders, and industry stakeholders to achieve sustainable success.

A recognized authority in franchise performance analysis, strategic marketing, and financing solutions, Edith is the trusted advisor to hundreds of franchisors, top lenders, Fortune 500 companies, and industry partners. One franchisor described her impact as pivotal, stating, “We couldn’t have grown to 1,000 stores and beyond without her and her team.”  Honored by Entrepreneur as a Top Influential Woman in Franchising and by 1851 as one of their Top Women in Franchising, Edith has consistently elevated franchise best practices and financial excellence. She has held prominent leadership roles within the International Franchise Association (IFA), including serving on its Board of Directors, Executive Committee, and as Chair of the Supplier Forum. She continues to champion the industry as a member of the IFA’s Education Foundation Board and through initiatives like the Ascension Initiative, which supports the growth of Black-owned franchise businesses. Edith’s passion for fostering innovation extends to emerging brands, where she actively contributes as part of the Emerging Franchisor Conference Committee and Task Force. Fluent in German and deeply committed to personal and professional growth, she balances her role as a devoted mother, avid jogger, and explorer of new franchise concepts.

For more than two decades, Robert Skrob has helped hundreds of membership programs launch and then grow from start-ups to become some of the world’s largest membership and subscription companies. After beginning his career as the leading membership growth expert for nonprofits and political organizations, in 2004, Robert pioneered monthly continuity subscriptions with for-profit membership and subscription programs. Robert’s profound understanding of what members ardently want from their membership relationships enables him to help you build connections with members that last for years. In a world where excessive churn rates are all too common and even accepted, Robert is able to transform subscription programs from what he calls “a series of one-night stands” into long-term relationships.

Kebbie Sebastian is the founder and CEO of Merge, a London-based fintech that transforms cross-border payments by integrating instant payment systems with stablecoin networks. Merge enables global businesses to transfer money quickly, affordably, and easily. Previously, Kebbie served in senior executive positions at PayPal, Barclays, and Bank of America, and founded Penser, a fintech advisory firm.

With acumen in strategy, finance, and deal-making, Todd Recknagel has consistently elevated the companies he’s engaged with to market leadership. His roles have spanned from CEO, Board Member, Board Chair, Operating Partner, to Co-investor – in a variety of growth enterprises.  Currently, he serves as an Operating Partner & Board Member for PCRK Group, the largest franchisee of Massage Envy; the Board Chair & Partner for Salon Freedom, the top franchisee for Sola Salons; a Board Member & Partner at Office Pride; and a Managing Partner and Board Member for Specialty Tile Products. He also has served many years on the Board of the International Franchise Association and serves on the Executive Committee.  Todd was the CEO & Partner for Mr. Handyman International; the CEO & Partner for AM Conservation Group, the nation’s leading energy efficiency product supplier; a Board Member & Partner for Take 5 Oil Change; and a Board Member & Operating Partner at Quatrro Business Support Services. Todd earned his MBA in finance from the Eli Broad School at MSU.

Dan is a future-oriented entrepreneur with a unique ability to see patterns before others and build the models and frameworks to bring new opportunities to life.

With several entrepreneurial successes behind him and a national best-selling book called Why Not Me?, Dan founded WSI at the age of 27.

Over the last 25+ years, WSI has grown as a part of CSG’s portfolio to become the world’s largest digital marketing franchise organization, with almost 1,000 franchised agencies in over 80 countries.

In addition to his role at CSG, he lectures on franchising at educational institutions like Cornell and Georgetown and sits on the board of the International Franchise Association.

With family at the center of much of his life, Dan’s also the founder of Make Child Poverty History, a worldwide outreach program operated in partnership with World Vision.

David Humphrey has served the franchise industry in number of different ways throughout his career, having lived and worked in Latin America, Europe, and Canada. As a dual citizen of Canada and the U.S., David brings his unique perspective and years of franchise experience into every position he holds.

He is currently Vice Chair of Ignite Fitness Holdings, a major franchisee group within the Planet Fitness gym chain, operating 130 of the 2500+ Planet Fitness gyms in six U.S. states and three Canadian provinces, where he previously spent 6 years as CEO, launching the Planet Fitness brand across Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan.

David also serves as Chairman of Massage Heights Franchising, a 120-unit family-owned franchisor of upscale spas in the U.S. and Canada, and he serves on the Boards of Handel’s Ice Cream, a fast-growing franchisor of 100+ice cream shops, and Uni K Wax, a franchised waxing studio with 30+ locations.

As CEO of Massage Envy Spa from 2008-2011, he led the world’s largest spa franchisor, which doubled in size to over 670 locations and 1 million members during his tenure. He has consulted with several franchise brands and worked with Private Equity firms in acquiring and managing franchise systems.

David also served as 2023-2024 Chair of the International Franchise Association. He has been a member of IFA’s Board of Directors since 2018, and is a Past Chair of IFA’s International Committee.

Before founding Ingage Consulting, Evan worked at CCA Global Partners for twenty years. At CCA, he was responsible for four business divisions with over 2,000 units and over $5 billion in sales operating in five countries. He also founded CCA’s departments in marketing, national programs, and training. He led the company’s effort to buy and turn around a troubled franchise organization from bankruptcy. In four years he was able to grow the troubled franchise from $700 million in systemwide sales to a very successful company with over $2 billion in sales.  In total, Evan has helped launch and found three franchise businesses during his career. Two of those were at CCA—which are still successfully operating now—and one, which he founded prior to CCA, developed and sold. Evan is a Certified Franchise Executive, a member of the IFA’s franchise relationship committee, co-chairman of the IFA Knowledge Share committee, and a board member of the New England Franchise Association.

Evan received an MBA from Boston College and a BA from Colorado College.  Evan resides in Reading, Massachusetts with his wife, Laura, and his three children.

David L. Baiada is the CEO of BAYADA Home Health Care, a $2.1 billion global industry leader with a clear strategic vision of home as the stable center of the health care continuum. Founded in Philadelphia, PA in 1975, BAYADA provides nursing, rehabilitative, therapeutic, hospice, and assistive care services to children, adults, and seniors in the comfort of their homes. With hundreds of office locations throughout the U.S., as well as Germany, India, Ireland, New Zealand, and South Korea, BAYADA is a leading nonprofit home health care provider and the only national provider to offer a full range of home-based specialty care services. Mr. Baiada was appointed CEO in August 2017 when BAYADA’s founder, Mark Baiada, stepped into a new role as Chairman. That also was the launch of BAYADA’s transformation into a not-for-profit to ensure that the company will never be sold, and that its mission, vision, beliefs, and core values of compassion, excellence, and reliability—codified in The BAYADA Way—will endure for generations to come. Families and individuals coping with significant illness or disability need help and support, and it is BAYADA’s mission to help people have a safe home life with comfort, independence, and dignity. Mr. Baiada is committed to a people-first philosophy, attracting and supporting purpose-driven and like-hearted individuals who share a passion for helping others and put the needs of their clients first. He believes that a choice to pursue a health profession is a choice to help others, and that home is the best place to tune into people’s needs and truly make a difference. Since joining BAYADA in 2002, Mr. Baiada has worked in a variety of roles and learned the business from the ground up. Taking on progressively increasing responsibilities, he most recently served as practice president for home health, hospice, and pediatrics practices; led the Enterprise Quality teams responsible for policy development, regulatory support, and quality assurance/auditing; spearheaded the redesign of the quality improvement and standards framework for the entire enterprise; oversaw four strategic business acquisitions; and launched the Hospice Specialty Practice to provide high-quality end-of-life services. In May 2016, the Philadelphia Business Journal named Mr. Baiada one of 40 Under Forty influential leaders in the region. Mr. Baiada was also recognized as a Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Top CEO in 2019. Most recently, Mr. Baiada was named a 2023 Top CEO by South Jersey Biz magazine, an Entrepreneur of The Year® 2021 Greater Philadelphia Award winner by Ernst & Young, and in the top 20 of the City & State Pennsylvania’s 2021 Healthcare Power 100 list. Prior to joining BAYADA, Mr. Baiada worked as an analyst and associate at Diamond Management and Technology Partners in Chicago. He earned an MBA in Health Care Management from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a BA in Economics from Cornell University. Mr. Baiada and his wife Mindy live outside Philadelphia, PA with their two daughters, Gweneth and Annabelle.

Mr. Thorndike is the founder and Managing Partner of The Cromwell Harbor Partnership, an investment partnership focused on building elite businesses with exceptionally talented CEO’s over the longest possible time horizons. Prior to founding The Cromwell Harbor Partnership, he founded Housatonic Partners, a leading middle market private equity firm. 

Mr. Thorndike has served as a director of over 50 companies. He is currently a director (Chairman) of CNX Resources Corporation, and Perimeter Solutions, Inc. (Co-Chairman) and several private companies including Banyan Software, QMC Telecom and Carillon Assisted Living. He is Co-founding Partner of Sun Mountain Partners.  

Mr. Thorndike is the author of The Outsiders, which has been translated into 17 languages and was named by Business Insider as one of “The 25 Best Business Books Ever Published”.  He is the co-host of the 50X podcast. Mr. Thorndike holds an A.B. degree from Harvard University and an M.B.A. degree from Stanford University. 

Mr. Stella most recently was the Co-Founder and President of VIU Media, Puerto Rico’s largest locally-owned outdoor advertising company, which was sold to Lamar Advertising. Prior to becoming President of VIU Media, he was the Co-Founder and President of Quest Management Corporation, a private equity group formed to identify, acquire, and operate a company in Puerto Rico. Previously, Mr. Stella worked at KPMG Peat Marwick in the middle-market Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory Group. 

He also worked for UBS and Chase Manhattan Bank and received the 2004 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Puerto Rico. Currently, he serves as a director of Rocket Learning, LLC and Centros Sor Isolina Ferré, the largest Puerto Rico based not-for-profit organization.

Mr. Stella graduated with high honors, with a B.A. in Economics, Finance and Investments from Babson College and graduated cum laude with an MBA from The University of Michigan. 

Mr. Somoza most recently was the Co-Founder and CEO of VIU Media, Puerto Rico’s largest locally-owned outdoor advertising company, which was sold to Lamar Advertising. Prior to becoming CEO of VIU Media, he was the Co-Founder and CEO of Quest Management Corporation, a private equity group formed to identify, acquire, and operate a company in Puerto Rico. Previously, Mr. Somoza worked at CS First Boston, where he was involved in structuring over $1.2 billion in financings. 

He received the 2004 E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Puerto Rico, and currently sits on the board of the Puerto Rico Convention Bureau and EM Assist, LLC. Mr. Somoza graduated magna cum laude, with a B.A. in Economics and Political Science, from Yale University and holds an MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. Chris has deep knowledge of the key dynamics, such as e-commerce and direct-to-consumer marketing, that drive the consumer industry. He brings significant experience leading transactions in the active lifestyle, e-commerce, functional apparel, food and beverage, home furnishings and merchandising sectors. Chris and his teams lead processes that yield outlier valuations by identifying and positioning his clients’ unique points of differentiation.

Porter is a partner at Brown Advisory and serves as a portfolio manager and head of the Delaware office. He joined Brown Advisory after 13 years at Marvin & Palmer Associates, Inc., a global equity management firm, where he was a partner and portfolio manager for emerging markets and domestic large-cap growth equity portfolios. Prior to that, he spent four years in institutional sales for Peregrine Securities in Hong Kong before spending four years in Hong Kong with Goldman Sachs Asia. 

Porter has a BA from The University of Virginia and his community involvement has included being the Treasurer and a Board Member of Delaware Wild Lands, a Board Member and Committee Member, Finance Committee, The Conservation Fund, Treasurer and Board Member, Longwood Gardens, and Chairman of the Board, Stroud Water Research Center.  

As co-head of Lincoln’s Consumer Group in the U.S., Chris leads the firm’s consumer product initiatives and advises companies on mergers and acquisitions. Through a hands-on style of processing deals, Chris develops close relationships with owners and management to learn the priorities of all stakeholders and position companies for maximum valuation.

Chris has deep knowledge of the key dynamics, such as e-commerce and direct-to-consumer marketing, that drive the consumer industry. He brings significant experience leading transactions in the active lifestyle, e-commerce, functional apparel, food and beverage, home furnishings and merchandising sectors. Chris and his teams lead processes that yield outlier valuations by identifying and positioning his clients’ unique points of differentiation.

Mr. Reese is the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE:IRM), the global information protection and storage leader. Mr. Reese served as the Chief Executive Officer of Iron Mountain from 1981-2008 and then again from 2011-2013. Mr. Reese is a proven business leader who, from the time he joined Iron Mountain as its president in 1981 with only $3 million in annual revenue, developed it into the global market leader with over $4.0 billion in revenue and serving more than 225,000 corporate customers in 50 countries.

He has served on several boards of directors in both private entrepreneurial companies and public growth companies. Prior to joining Iron Mountain, Mr. Reese lectured on entrepreneurial management at the Harvard Business School. He has earned BS and MS degrees in engineering from Clemson University and an MBA degree from Harvard. He also served as a Lieutenant in the US Army from 1969 – 1971.

Currently Mr. Reese is the Investment Manager of Fermont Capital LLC, a family office investment company and the Reese Family Charitable Foundation. In this capacity he provides advice and guidance to several entrepreneurial companies.

Dr. Martin R. Lautman has had a distinguished business career spanning corporate leadership, venture capital, private equity, real estate development and academia. He served as the President of Numex Corporation, a publicly traded company that marketed healthcare products online and through infomercials. He was also a co-founder of Stonemor (NYSE: STON), an LBO-originated publicly traded master limited partnership, actively participating on the finance and compensation committees.

Earlier his career, Dr. Lautman was the Chairman and CEO of GfK Custom Research North America, a German DAX, top 40 company and the fourth largest information company in the world, headquartered in Nuremburg with offices in over 60 countries. More recently he has focused on venture capital as a Founding Partner of Musketeer Capital, a fund that has invested in what has proven to be multiple high-growth startups, including two unicorns. He has also served as an advisor and board member for PE-funded portfolio companies and multiple private and family-owned businesses, guiding them on marketing and succession planning.

Dr. Lautman earned a B.S. degree in Political Science from Brooklyn College and a Ph.D. in Mathematical Psychology (Behavioral Economics) from The Pennsylvania State University. As a committed educator, he is a graduate of the Executive Education Program of The Harvard Business School and has lectured at the Cornell University Hotel School (customer management), Princeton University (forming startup boards and advisors) and Columbia University (marketing strategy). For the past decade he has concentrated on startups and taught Entrepreneurial Marketing at both the undergraduate and MBA levels at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is an active member of Young President’s Organization (YPO) and Chief Executives Organization (CEO).

David Dodson has been active for thirty years in the management and formation of new businesses and is the author of the best-selling book The Manager’s Handbook. After graduating from Stanford GSB, as a case writer he wrote the original course material for search funds — then in its infancy. After one year as a case writer, Dodson raised his own search fund, which led to the purchase of a company in 1989. He subsequently raised two more search funds that resulted in acquisitions and has served as CEO of a technology manufacturer and Executive Chairman of a telecommunications firm. Dodson is an active investor, investing in over forty businesses, and Dodson has been a director in twenty-one companies.

In 2000 Dodson co-founded Project Healthy Children, which was later re-named Sanku, which has operated in eight African countries. With the help of Stanford’s Extreme Affordability program, Sanku invented the only successful technology to fortify grains in rural mills, and the award- winning technology has saved and improved the lives of millions of rural families in Africa. In 2018, out of concern for the state of our country, Dodson ran for the U.S. Senate in his home state of Wyoming. He is a frequent columnist for The Boston Globe and Casper Star-Tribune, and a regular guest commentator with CNBC and Fox Business News.

Believing that access to voting is a basic right, in 2020, Dodson founded StudentVotes.org, to safely empower students to vote safely during the pandemic. Targeting nine key races, StudentVotes was 61 times more effective than an established get-out-the-vote nonprofit (with stronger university ties) at enabling university students in key swing states to vote remotely in the 2020 presidential election, reducing viral spread while empowering students.

David Dodson teaches S355, “Managing Growing Enterprises”, S543, “Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition”, and S210 “Managerial Skills.” Dodson is a graduate of Stanford University (Economics ’83, MBA ’87), and a former case writer (1988).

A.J. Wasserstein is the Eugene F. Williams, Jr., Senior Lecturer in the Practice of Management at the Yale School of Management. His research, writing, and teaching concentrate on search funds, entrepreneurship, programmatic acquisitions, and small businesses. He has written over 100 cases and notes on these topics.

Additionally, he has been a private investor with a long-term orientation, interested in lower middle-market businesses and philanthropic organizations, where he can be positively impactful by using his experiences, time, and capital. Professor Wasserstein was the president of Onesource Water, the third-largest bottleless water service business in the U.S. Onesource Water was sold to Water Logic, a U.K.-based strategic acquirer, in 2016. Previously, A.J. was the founder and CEO of ArchivesOne, the third-largest records management company in the U.S. ArchivesOne was sold to Iron Mountain (NYSE: IRM) after 17 years of operation.

A.J. received the Faculty Teaching Excellence Award for outstanding teaching in elective courses at the Yale School of Management in 2022 and 2024. The U.S. Small Business Administration has recognized A.J. as the Small Businessperson of the Year in Connecticut. A.J. wrote a book on young adulthood that was a gift to his three children. The book’s title is What Matters Most: A Young Adult’s Roadmap to Life.

John Moran, was Co-Founder & Chairman of Bright Event Rentals, LLC. Founded in 2013, Bright is the nation´s leading party rental company. During John’s tenure, Bright employed 1,000 team members and operates from 14 locations in California, Texas, and Arizona. Bright serves a number of high-profile annual events such as the Academy Awards, Emmy Awards, Napa Valley Wine Auction, Coachella Music Festival, and DreamForce. See www.bright.com. Bright was sold to Trivest Partners in November 2023.

From 2008 to 2017, John worked at Passport Capital, a $4B long-short equity hedge fund. John joined the firm as Director of Business Operations & Strategy and was promoted to President in 2012 to manage the business.

From 1996 to 2008, John founded, built and sold two leading event rental companies, including Classic Party Rentals, the nation’s largest. In 1996, he formed a “search fund” group of investors to find and acquire an operating business. He identified an opportunity to consolidate the event rental business and bought a small company to learn the business and test his strategy. John and his partner quickly established a solid platform and grew operations to ten Western locations.

When Classic was sold to a private equity firm in 2006, John and his investors formed Event Rentals 2, LLC to acquire and integrate event rental companies on the East Coast. In 2008, the company was operating in five cities and was acquired by Classic Party Rentals in their effort to form a national footprint.

Jamie is an experienced entrepreneur and private investor.  He is currently the Managing Partner of Point Piper, LLC which is focused on making investments in growth companies primarily in the Education and Healthcare industries.

Jamie co-founded Alta Colleges in 1987 through the purchase of a single post-secondary for-profit institution in Denver. Over a twenty year period he grew an educational business from $3.5m to over $400m in sales with more than 25 locations in nine states.  During this journey, Alta also became the single largest US franchisee of The Princeton Review, a test preparation company.  Jamie experienced and managed through multiple organizational changes, growing and scaling this multi-site business.  He hired a CEO in 2007 to run the company and remains Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors.  Prior to co-founding Alta, he worked in Corporate Finance at Lehman Brothers.

In addition to his Point Piper responsibilities, Jamie is an active private investor in Search Funds and currently serves on the Board of five different private companies in the fields of healthcare (Assisted Living), corporate training (two different SaaS companies), secondary education (student retention), and talent development (franchised business networking).

Jamie received a BSc in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University in 1981 and his MBA from Harvard Business School in 1985.

Jim is a co-founder of Pacific Lake. Once himself a beneficiary of the search fund model, Jim launched the first Search Fund in 1984 under the mentorship of then Harvard Business School professor Irv Grousbeck. This search resulted in the acquisition of Uniform Printing, a printer of specialty insurance documents. Jim successfully exited the business after leading it for 10 years, ultimately turning his efforts to supporting the next generation of search fund entrepreneurs. Today, he serves as an advisor and board member to companies in the Pacific Lake portfolio.

Jim has invested in over 100 Search Funds as an individual investor and with Pacific Lake. He is often a guest speaker on the Search Fund model at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and Harvard Business School and is the subject of an HBS case on his first Search Fund acquisition. Jim holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Larry is an accomplished financial professional who has generated substantial value in high-growth environments. He develops solutions for organizational strategy, capital management, process improvement, cost containment and financial reporting.

Like Rich and Tiffany, Larry enjoys working closely with searchers at every stage of their quest to acquire one great company. He applies his expertise to supporting their goals and helps provide the guidance they need to become highly successful, value-driven CEOs. He lends his expertise to — and collaborates with — all members of the search fund community.
Larry has more than 30 years of diverse experience in M&A, finance, operations and investing. Concurrent with his role at Endurance until 2022, Larry was the CFO of NIP Group where he partnered with Rich in its day-to-day operations since 2007. Prior to joining NIP Group, he was Managing Director at Ally Financial and a Director of M&A and Divisional CFO at AIG. He began his career in public accounting serving financial services clients at both Deloitte and KPMG.
Larry serves on the Board of HousingWire, Lorman Education Services, Cerbo, GLP and Objective Management Group. He previously served on the Boards of Botanical Designs, ASAP Site Services, ABS Warranty, and Briscoe Protective.