Michael H. Seid
Managing Director

Michael H. Seid & Associates, LLC
94 Mohegan Drive, West Hartford, CT 06117
(860) 523-4257 -

Michael H. Seid is the founder and Managing Director of Michael H. Seid & Associates, LLC, (MSA) a domestic and international franchise advisory firm. He has over 25 years experience as a Senior Operations and Financial Executive or Consultant for companies within the franchise, retail, restaurant, hospitality and service industries as well as having been a franchisee.

Michael consults with companies on the appropriateness of franchising, both domestic and international, as a method to obtain their long-term expansion goals and in the design and development of their franchise systems. He assists established franchisors, multi-unit companies and multi-branded companies in tactical planning, headquarters and field support systems, manuals and training programs, marketing and expansion strategies, franchise relations, crisis management, expert witness, litigation support, mergers and acquisitions and the strategic restructuring of franchise systems. He serves as the back-up servicer for transactions related to royalty securitization for franchisors.

Michael was a senior officer for Supercuts, an international franchisor of hair care salons and was also a franchisee of the system. He was a Senior Vice President of Seligman and Latz and was Secretary Treasurer/Chief Operating Officer for Phillips Son & Neale (US), an international Fine Art Auction and Appraisal Company. Michael was a principal advisor to the Franchise Group of the New York investment-banking firm, Kidder, Peabody & Company. Michael is also a non practicing Certified Public Accountant.

Michael is a frequent speaker at programs for the International Franchise Association, universities, law schools, retail and professional organizations. He has written numerous articles on franchising, is a frequent speaker and is often quoted and interviewed in the print and electronic media. Together with the late Dave Thomas, Founder of Wendy's International, Michael is the co-author of Franchising for Dummies, published by Wiley Publishing, now in its 2nd edition.

Michael H. Seid & Associates is a member of the International Franchise Association's Supplier Forum and Michael serves on the Supplier Forum's Board of Directors as a Past Chairman. As Supplier Forum Chairman he served on the Board of Directors of the International Franchise Association and was also the first professional service provider to serve on the International Franchise Association's Executive Committee. He was elected and presently serves on the Board of Directors of the International Franchise Association, the first and only time a professional services provider has ever been directly elected to the IFA's board in the association's history.

Michael is a trustee of the International Franchise Association Educational Foundation and FranPac, the IFA's Political Action committee. He is also a member of several additional IFA and SF committees and task forces. He has completed the requirements and has been awarded the designation of CFE (Certified Franchise Executive) by the International Franchise Association, is a member of the New York State Society of CPAs and an associate member of the American Bar Association.

Professional Affiliations

• International Franchise Association
• Supplier Forum of the International Franchise Association
• International Franchise Association Educational Foundation
• American Institute of CPAs
• New York State Society of CPAs
• American Bar Association
• American Academy of Certified Consultants and Experts
• American College of Forensic Examiners
• Georgia Restaurant Association

Kay Marie Ainsley
Managing Director

Michael H. Seid & Associates, LLC
2163 Ector Place, Kennesaw GA 30152
(770) 794-0746 -

Kay Ainsley is a Managing Director of Michael H. Seid & Associates, LLC, (MSA) a domestic and international franchise advisory firm. She has over 20 years of experience in franchising as Director of Franchise Development for major franchise systems or as an advisor to companies within the retail, restaurant, services, manufacturing, and business to business industries.

Kay assists companies to evaluate franchising as a method of expansion and to create franchise programs that enable them to meet their objectives. She also advises established franchisors on system expansion, enhancing franchisee performance, franchisor-franchisee communications and relations, increasing profitability, system compliance programs and effectively instituting change. Her clients range from companies in the Fortune 500 to small, local businesses.

Kay was Director of International Development for Domino's Pizza International, the world's largest pizza delivery company. She also served as Director of International Development for Ziebart International, an automotive aftermarket retail franchise. Kay has created development programs to evaluate new market opportunities, established programs to source, recruit and select franchisees, and developed and provided training and support programs for multi-unit and individual unit operators.

Kay has negotiated master, area and joint venture agreements in the United States and internationally including Europe (west and east), Asia, the Middle East, Africa and South America. She has successfully completed international transactions in over 40 countries.

A frequent speaker for the International Franchise Association (IFA) and other professional organizations, in the United States and internationally, Kay has testified at the FTC hearings on the extension of the Franchise Rule to international transactions. She has authored numerous articles on franchising, has appeared on television and is often quoted in the press on franchising and business expansion.

Kay has completed the requirements and has earned the designation of Certified Franchise Executive (CFE). She teaches CFE accredited classes for the IFA's Educational Foundation. Kay currently serves on the Board of the IFA's Supplier Forum and is a member of the Glomak Committee, the international marketing arm of the IFA. She is also on the Advisory Board of the National Franchise Mediation Program of the Center for Dispute Resolution which promotes mediation in settling disputes in franchising. She is an associate member of the American Bar Association.

Kay entered franchising from the world of advertising. She was Vice President, Business Development, and Account Supervisor for the advertising firm Lintas: Campbell Ewald on numerous consumer and business accounts. She was also Director of Business Development for Gannett Outdoor Company of Michigan.

Professional Affiliations

• International Franchise Association
• American Bar Association
• National Franchise Mediation Program Advisory Board

Marla Rosner
Training and Employee Development

Michael H. Seid & Associates, LLC
15 Mt. Tenaya Drive, San Rafael, CA 94903
(415) 499-3533 -

Marla Rosner is the Training and Employee Development Consultant for Michael H. Seid & Associates, LLC, (MSA) a domestic and international franchise advisory firm. She has excelled as a training professional for over twenty years.

Marla consults to franchisors at various stages of development providing training design and development services as well as guidance regarding training infrastructure. For new franchisors Marla creates operations manuals, assists in systemizing operational procedures and structures new franchisee training programs. For established franchisors, Marla assesses the effectiveness of current training, identifies training gaps and designs cost effective programs to train store level personnel, as well as headquarters staff. Her specialty in interpersonal skills training has enabled Marla to help companies successfully develop first time managers who are often challenged in supervising store-level employees. As a seasoned public speaker Marla facilitates programs for franchise and manager conventions, seminars and events.

During her 16-year tenure with Supercuts, an international hair care franchisor, Marla helped build the system from 75 locations to over 1,100 salons. As Vice President of Training and Development Marla led a team of professional trainers, instructional designers and vendors to produce management and technical curriculum aimed at increased sales, productivity, and employee retention and business profitability. During her tenure with Supercuts, Marla trained over 75% of all franchisees resulting in the company's most aggressive expansion over a twenty-year period. Marla was also a franchisee of the Supercuts system.

At Supercuts and, as a consultant, Marla has a proven track record in guiding and executing training initiatives to produce bottom-line business results. She has designed and delivered training for business owners, managers, supervisors, and trainers in areas of leadership, performance management, coaching and communication skills, customer service, sales, recruitment, interviewing and hiring, technical skills, employee motivation and retention, and presentation and facilitation skills. She has developed employee and trainer certification programs, management tools for performance appraisal programs, and for employee retention. Marla has created and is an instructor of CFE accredited classes for the International Franchise Association Education Foundation.

Marla's background in consulting includes clients in the franchise, retail, service, financial and high tech industries. As founder of Creative Influence, a San Rafael, California based training company her clients have included Levi Strauss and Co., Restoration Hardware, Pasqua Coffee, Ask Jeeves, Sun Microsytems, IDEO, QAD, Bay Networks, Solectron, IntelliTools Inc., Prudential Securities, Robert Mondavi Wineries, Stanford University, University of California San Francisco, Vision Services Plan, Providian Financial, KPMG, Laserscope, Integral Training Systems.

Professional Affiliations:

• International Franchise Association Supplier Forum
• Northern California Human Resources Association

Keith C. Carleton
Senior Consultant

Michael H. Seid & Associates, LLC
2163 Ector Place, Kennesaw GA 30152
(678) 787-6811 -

Keith Carleton is a Senior Consultant with Michael H. Seid & Associates, LLC, (MSA) a domestic and International franchise advisory firm. He brings over 20 years of hands on experience having worked as a Senior Director in Operations, Vice President of Training, Independent Consultant, and as a Director of Franchise Development within the franchise, retail, restaurant and service industries.

Keith consults with companies on their development and management of their international and U.S. based franchise systems. His primary areas of expertise are in strategic and tactical planning, domestic and international expansion, resource development and training. In assisting clients with the development and management of their franchise organizations, Keith provides advisory services in the areas of the development and management of field support organizations, standards compliance, business performance analysis and improvements and restaurant and retail management.

As a Senior Director for Domino's Pizza International, Keith provided onsite consultation in start-up, ongoing operations support, and company development to multi-unit operators, through expatriate assignment in five countries. His project management capabilities were also utilized to create and administer a program of due diligence and business plan formulation, designed for acquisition and conversion of competitor brands. Additionally, to acknowledge the differences in applying operations systems internationally, he originated and held leadership for implementation in such projects as; a revision of company standards and policies; formalized job descriptions, salary scales and bonus plans for field operations personnel; creation of a comprehensive sales awards and incentive program for franchise operated stores.

With Starbucks Coffee Company, he led and collaborated with cross-functional teams on retail category initiatives across a six state area in the Southeast U.S., achieving success in part with a campaign promoting awareness and daily use of associated performance metrics. This further enabled store management to respond more rapidly in product purchase and inventory level adjustments when either exceeding, or failing to meet, sales expectation goals.

Keith has negotiated international master franchise agreements including the organization of activities leading up to the signing of contracts, identified target markets, developed fee structures, revenue projections, growth requirements and determination of the appropriate support personnel and organization for the master franchisee and headquarters organizations. His experience in international business management has finely tuned his skills in building franchise relationships, enabling him to communicate concepts and practices across the culturally diverse spectrum of personnel existing in the franchise industry today, whether applied in the United States or internationally.

Professional Affiliations:

• International Franchise Association
• Supplier Forum of the International Franchise Association
• Georgia Restaurant Association