Atlanta Franchise Alliance Networking Event Wednesday February 24th
Mark Your Calendars: Wednesday, February 24th at Buckhead Bar and Grill
Time: 5:30 p.m. - Whenever?
Beginning Wednesday 2/24/10, the ATLFA will meet every fourth Wednesday evening at the Buckhead Bar and Grill. Very casual setting – centrally located – a great place to meet Atlanta franchise industry executives for drinks, food, and networking!
If you are in Atlanta, come out and join the ATLFA for a great night of networking!
As the holidays rapidly approach and I start looking ahead to the New Year, something that I am really excited about is my new found relationship with the United States Chamber of Commerce.Last May, I was invited to attend their 2009 Business Civic Leadership Center’s (BCLC) Annual Conference in Chicago.That’s where I witnessed firsthand, what can happen, when dedicated and committed professionals from the public and private sectors come together and work as one.While the wheels were spinning off the bus on the U.S. and world economy, the BCLC was already rolling out a program called“Together for Recovery.”Its focus was helping businesses, individuals and communities do more than just survive, but actually fight back and prosper, as opposed to becoming victims of their circumstances.Since attending this event, I have been drinking U.S. Chamber and BCLC Kool-Aid by the case.
The conference moves to Houston, TX for 2010 and I am honored to have been asked to be a member of the Working Group that is planning it.This National Conference on Corporate Community Investment is a “must attend” for leaders of their communities: business leaders, chamber executives, bankers, investors, elected officials, non-profits, educators.Any stakeholder in a leadership role in his or her community should plan to be in Houston, May 12-14, 2010. This year’s theme will be: PROVIDE and PROSPER: Corporate Citizenship and Competiveness in the 21st Century.
As unprecedented challenges and opportunities continue to reshape how our businesses compete and our communities live, The Chamber,the BCLC and its members continue to pioneer innovative, sustainable solutions to these real-world challenges. At the 2010 BCLC National Conference on Corporate Community Investment, you'll meet and interact with the nation's top corporate, government and non-profit thought leaders as they address solutions to America's most vexing competitive challenges: “Energy and the Environment,”“Health and Wellness,” and the one that’s nearest and dearest to my heart, “Job Creation.”
Before I close, I’d like to sincerely thank Stephen Jordan and Katie Loovisat the BCLC and U.S.Chamber, for so generously featuring RetroTax and me in their year-end reportand video, Together for Recovery: “Business is Part of the Solution.”This is a compilation of stories about how the business community is helping individuals, non profits, communities, and small businesses weather the ongoing economic storm.
While Congress remains polarized regarding health care, last week the House managed to pass HR 4213, the Tax Extenders Act of 2009. This will extend the life of certain expiring tax provisions that were set to sunset on 12/31/09. Included in this bill are the EZ/RC credits that are our life’s blood. This bill now passes from the House Ways and Means Committee, to the Senate Finance Committee for further disposition. In plain English, that means “business as usual” for RetroTax. The Senate Finance Committee will now have until 12/31/10 take this up and get it to the full Senate for a vote, keeping the credits and incentives that we administer alive, until the Way and Means Committee gets around to the business of HR 1677 and the Senate to S1222. When passed, these bills will expand the value proposition of the services that we provide for our clients and extend the legislation to the end of 2016.
I'd like to express my thanks and appreciation to Amy Otto and Lee Kantor, hosts of Atlanta Business Radio, for inviting Jim Squire and me, to co-host a one hour broadcast, dedicated completely to franchising. These invitations were extended to us, because Jim and I each chair one of Atlanta's two franchise membership forums. Jim, The Southeast Franchise Forum and yours truly, The Atlanta Franchise Alliance. The two of us then, invited an outstanding line up of guests, to talk about the state of franchising in this challenging economic and political climate. We were joined first by David French, VP of Government Relations at the International Franchise Association, followed by Geoff Seiber, CEO of FranFund, Ron Feldman, CEO of Siegel Financial Group (and RetroTaxfranchisee) and Michelle Belinfante of The Leasing and Management Group.
The link that follows, will take you to more about the program and to yet another link, that will
“Franchising: I live and breathe it. It’s what I do. It’s my life. Through the people I meet; those I mentor and who mentor me; the committees I serve; for me, it is all about caring, sharing and spreading intellectual capital.” A twenty year veteran of franchising, Stan Friedman is an “outside the box” thinker. In 1998, while directing global development for Blimpie Int’l., he created an Urban Expansion initiative that was heralded by the media and leaders of the public and private sectors. This culminated in participation at the “White House Conference for Community Empowerment” and was also honored as Blimpie’s Innovation of the Year. From 2003-2006, Stan was a partner at the Wing Zone Franchise Corp., leading the development charge of the Atlanta-based chain to nearly 100 units. In 2007 Stan became President and Co-Founder of newly formed ACI Franchising, LLC, the franchisor of RetroTax. Stan chairs the board of the Atlanta Franchise Alliance, is first vice chair of the IFA’s Diversity Institute and Chairman of the IFA’s Minorities in Franchising Committee. Stan is a frequent speaker and a regular contributor to the IFA’s Franchising World Magazine.
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