Account based/B2B Marketing to Multi-Unit, Multi-Brand Franchise Owners | 0.1 MSP Credit

Lawrence J. ÔÇ£DocÔÇØ Cohen

Former Chair of the International Franchise Association, CFE

Founder and former CEO of Deblan Corporation and Founder and CEO of Cookie Associates, a leading franchisee of the Great American Cookie Company (GACC)., Lawrence ÔÇ£DOCÔÇØ Cohen built what was a fun, part-time career into a dynamic, state-of-the-art franchise conglomerate. Beginning in 1979, Doc developed 35 GACC units in 7 States and operated 8 of the top 10 highest volume stores in the chain of over 300 units. In 1998, Mrs. Fields Famous Brands acquired Deblan Corporation and subsequently, in 2002 Cookie Associates reacquired the Houston, TX. market for Great American Cookies and PretzelTime.

He received a B. S. degree in Pharmacy from the University of Georgia and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Georgia School of Law. He was active in the retail pharmacy business for 15 years in Georgia and California before establishing his first GACC franchise. Mr. Cohen was the founding president of the Great American Cookie CompanyÔÇÖs Franchise Advisory Council and has served three times as its president He is a founding member of the Independent Association of Great American Cookie Franchisees and is a permanent member of the AssociationÔÇÖs Executive Committee.

He has been a Trustee for the IFA Educational Foundation, Inc., Past Chair of the International Franchise AssociationÔÇÖs (IFA) Franchise Advisory Council and the IFA Board of Directors. He has served on many IFA Committees including Franchise Relations, Awards, Long Range Planning and Convention. He served 5 years as Treasurer of the IFA, has chaired the IFA Convention Planning Committee and FranPAC, IFAÔÇÖs political action committee. He was the 2nd franchisee in history to assume the position of Chairman of The Board of Directors of the IFA. He was also the first Franchisee in the World to earn the designation of ÔÇ£Certified Franchise ExecutiveÔÇØ given by the IFA Educational Foundation. In 2011, He was honored as the first franchisee recipient of IFAÔÇÖs Hall of Fame Award. In 2015, he became the 1st franchisee to chair the IFAÔÇÖs Educational FoundationÔÇÖs Board of Trustees. In 2016, he received the FoundationÔÇÖs highest honor, the William Rosenberg Leadership Award. In 2011, he was honored as the first ever recipient of Great American CookiesÔÇÖ Hall of Fame Award.

Mr. Cohen was a delegate representing the State of Texas at the Third White House Conference on Small Business held in June, 1995 in Washington, D.C., and as such, played an important role in apprising President Clinton and the United States Congress of issues important to small businesses, and franchising in particular. He has since testified before the U.S. Senate subcommittee of the Judiciary and before the U.S. House of Representatives Small Business Committee. ÔÇ£DocÔÇØ was honored three times by GACC and the International Franchise Association (IFA) with the Franny Award, the Distinguished Achievement Award as Franchisee of the Year. He was twice named by Great American Cookie Company as Franchisee of the Decade.

Shawn Goldsmith

CFE

Shawn earned both his BS and MBA degrees from the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business. As a student, he was geared toward a career in investment banking and worked within CitigroupÔÇÖs Real Estate Investment Banking Division. However, his entrepreneurial passions ultimately led him to discovering franchising, a middle path of risk-mitigated entrepreneurship.

Shawn is a Certified Franchise Executive (CFE), an active member of the International Franchise Association, and a graduate of Georgetown University's Franchise Management Program. He is Co-Founder of FranchiseLens, a digital marketplace that matches business owners with the best franchise brands and lenders. Currently Shawn serves as the Area Supervisor of several Great American Cookie franchises where he is leading an optimization overhaul in operations, sales/marketing, and growth opportunities.

In addition to his franchise experience, Shawn served as Chief Marketing Officer at Matrix Insights (an EQ and Team Development tech startup), Head of North America Demand Generation at BonitaSoft (a French-based BPM tech startup), and Social Selling Enabler at Oracle. He also founded and continues to run his own company, Markarie, a full-service marketing agency that serves an array of clients including non-profits, universities, and tech companies. Shawn's entrepreneurial spirit was first ignited as an Eagle Scout where he earned every merit badge; he remains active in Scouting. In his free time, Shawn competes in amateur boxing as well as enjoys studying ancient military history. He was acknowledged for his contributions to ÔÇ£The Death of CaesarÔÇØ, a work authored by former Cornell History Chair Barry Strauss and published by Simon and Schuster.