WOMEN AT
24
THE TOP
Reflections from a Female CEO
Therese Thilgen, CEO, Franchise Update Media
W
elcome to our inaugural issue
of Franchise Update magazine’s
Women at the Top special issue. In
my 35-year career in franchising, it
is only in the past 5 to 10 years that
I have observed significantly more
females at our annual conferences
and at the IFA Annual Convention—especially females from the
CEO and CMO suites. We last visited this topic in Franchise Update
10 years ago, when the number of
women in the franchise C-suite was
dismal, and decided we were well
overdue to revisit it.
With this first annual issue recognizing franchising’s “leading women,”
we needed to establish a benchmark
for ongoing research. Our goal was
to find companies with women
CEOs and presidents, rank the top
25 by system-wide revenues, and
ask each executive the same series
of questions. We almost got there
with 24 profiles. Collectively, these
24 women executives oversee more
than 17,000 units and $16 billion in
annual system-wide revenue—and
they plan to add $5 billion more in
the next 5 years. That’s some powerful economic clout!
We were unable to pin down three
women executives for the profil es—
each recognized as a leader in their
industry. We have, however, included
their companies in the rankings list
on page 10. The three we missed
are Sally Smith, CEO and president
of Buffalo Wild Wings (#4); Susan
Steen, CEO of Servpro (#5); and
Tammy Whitworth, chair and CEO
of Window World (#10).
In a broader look at nearly 200
women-led franchises, we found
their brands represented in more
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Collectively,
these 24 women
executives
oversee more
than 17,000
units and $16
billion in annual
system-wide
revenue.
than 25 categories, including automotive, food, pet care, and maintenance services (see page 11). Restaurants/fast casual/QSR accounted
for 13.5 percent of the total, with
child-related brands a close second
at 13 percent, followed by health
and fitness at 11.5 percent.
Despite the progress women have
made in ascending to franchising’s
C-suites, it’s disappointing that their
numbers remain so low. Research
from 12 years ago revealed that 16
percent of all executives listed in
UFOCs were women—a figure that
included CEOs, presidents, COOs,
CFOs, HR, training, and marketing. At that time, you could almost
count with your fingers (and maybe
toes) how many women were in the
executive suite. Current research
provided by Frandata reveals that
14 percent of franchisor CEOs and
presidents now are women (based on
FDDs with updated executive records
through mid-2013). I see this as good
news because the needle is moving in
the right direction for women with
the desire, fortitude, competency,
character, and all else that is critical
to leading a franchise organization.
Ongoing research shows a strong
business and financial case for advancing women to leadership positions. “Diverse business leadership
and governance are correlated with
stronger business performance, employee engagement, and innovation.
Shareholders beware: a company
with no women at the top is missing one of the biggest opportunities in the marketplace today,” said
Ilene H. Lang, former president and
CEO of Catalyst, a nonprofit that’s
led the way in helping women become business leaders. Lang, who
retired at the end of 2013, was a
trailblazer herself, recognized as a
pioneering woman high-tech and
Internet executive before joining
and leading Catalyst.
As a female business owner myself for almost 27 years, my admiration runs deep for the women we’ve
profiled: proven business leaders,
many of them trailblazers as well.
And while it’s exciting for me to