Chief operations officer, regional vice president of franchised service centers

Joel Walker

Chief Operations Officer, Regional Vice President of Franchised Service Centers

Austin, TX

Work Experience

Chief Operations Officer, Regional Vice President of Franchised Service Centers

Driven Brands, Inc

August 2006 to August 2012

Chief Operations Officer, Regional Vice President of Franchised Service Centers
Vice President of Company-Owned Service Centers 8/06-8/12

• Designed and implemented co-branding test, joining the Meineke brand and a Quick Lube test brand, increasing sales by 50% at test location. The success of this test was a major impetus for Meinekes acquisition of EconoLube and the basis for Meinekes current co-branding strategy.
• Engineered the operating model for the Meineke/EconoLube co-brand center, designed to create synergies between the quick-lube/maintenance and repair businesses, which has resulted in the highest average sales per center and the fastest growing segment within the Meineke chain.
• Centers that ultimately co-branded have exceeded same store sales growth by a 5% CAGR and increased average profit by more than 100% after co-branding.
• Created a compensation model for center managers that enforced controls and rewarded profitability, resulting in a 250% increase in average company-owned store sales, 50% reduction in payroll expense and cost of goods relative to sales and improved profitability of the 30 store, 120 employee, company group by 3.5 million per year including G&A expense. This compensation model is now widely used in franchised centers.
• Achieved net unit growth of franchised centers in regional territory by 8% by facilitating unit expansion among existing franchisees as well as reducing center closures.
• Reduced Accounts Receivables Days Sales Outstanding from 41 days to 33 days in franchised Center territory.
• Trained non-financial managers on program that measures financial impact of recommended operational implementations at franchised centers and managed the project down to the center level.
• Acquired, then turned around operation of failing centers and profitably divested of these centers in transactions with capable operators. Successfully transitioned over 80 stores in this program resulting in capital gains of approximately $2MM and protecting $4MM of annual royalty revenue to Meineke.

Director/Operations Development

owners of struggling franchise centers

November 2003 to August 2006

Consulted with owners of struggling franchise centers to improve their operational and financial performance
• Set measurable goals for struggling centers, developed and advised on tactics to achieve those goals, and provided weekly follow-up consultations to measure progress. The project resulted in an average change in sales relative to breakeven of 24% and helped 16 of 44 participating centers achieve profitability.
• Managed resale of operating franchised locations at risk of financial failure, as well as locations involved in bankruptcy proceedings, successfully brokering the sales of more than 25 existing Meineke locations protecting over $625K of annual revenue to Meineke.
• Assisted in restructure of several centers in Chapter 11 bankruptcy by negotiating with trustees, landlords, and other creditors to settle claims and allow investor-operators to re-open these locations. The total impact of these efforts was to reduced shop closures by 20% below historical levels
• Beta-tested several possible computer-based and manual accounting solutions among franchisee control groups, documented best accounting processes and practices among successful franchisees and trained Operations Managers and franchisees on the implementation of recommended processes and accounting procedures.

TMG Development

Driven Brands, Inc

August 2002 to November 2003

Vice President/Finance and Operations

• Drove topline sales while controlling expenses to generate a profit
• Contracted with, billed, and collected accounts receivable from third party payers via medical contracting and billing agencies. Reduced DSO from 65 days to 41 days.
• Managed web-based image distribution project that resulted in a 30% increase in referrals and a 30% decrease in the cost of film.
• Implemented online patient scheduling project that allowed for reduced headcount at our imaging facilities. This project reduced company-wide headcount resulting in increased annual profits of $150K.
• Performed monthly financial close for all facilities and prepared analysis report for CEO and officers of TMGs parent company.
• Modeled various scenarios for capital investment which resulted in a shift in company strategy to a model with a reduced cash flow breakeven for new facilities by 50%.
• Determined total project cost for new facilities as well as required equity investment.

Director of Finance

Media Excel

May 2000 to August 2002

Performed primary market research to determine likely applications and establish pricing and distribution strategies for a nascent digital imaging technology.
• Performed pre-revenue financial modeling for licensing and product strategies for these proprietary technologies.
• Prepared detailed valuation report synthesizing income and market valuation methodologies used to raise $10.8MM in equity capital from angel investors.
• Primary contact with corporate attorneys regarding business form and capital structure issues.
• Primary contact with intellectual property attorney regarding trademarks.
• Secondary contact with intellectual property attorney regarding patents.
• Performed monthly financial statements and reported to senior management.

Registered Representative

Momentum Securities

September 1997 to July 1999

Series 7)

• Recommended short-term trades based on market maker activity in actively traded equities.
• Monitored and advised on short-term market trends and trend reversals.
• Executed orders as needed.

Auditor

Coopers and Lybrand

August 1995 to September 1997

Responsible for the complete and timely completion of audits.
• Managed staff accountants.
• Discussed GAAP accounting issues with clients and made recommendations for implementation.

Education

Masters of Business Administration in Concentrations

University of Texas at Austin -

Austin, TX

August 1999 to May 2001

Bachelors of Business Administration in Finance

University of Texas at Austin -

Austin, TX

August 1990 to December 1994

Skills

CPA

Additional Information

• Profit & Loss responsibility for large multi-unit retail organizations.
• Turn-around consultant to struggling small to medium-sized business owners.
• Business development project manager from conception through implementation.
• Expert in GAAP accounting, financial analysis, and financial modeling.
• Experienced trainer of financial concepts to non-financial managers.
• Buyer, seller, and broker of small to medium sized businesses.
• Experience raising equity capital for a start-up technology company.