Scott Oaks, Director of Franchise Development, FirstLight Home Care

Scott is Director of Franchise Development for FirstLight Home Care. He is responsible for new franchise growth and expansion east of the Mississippi and focused on recruiting and awarding territories to new franchisees who meet the requirements of the FirstLight system. He is a proven professional with more than 15 years of success in the franchising industry, including 5 years in the home health franchise industry. In addition to directly working for franchisors, Scott also has consulted with more than 50 different franchise concepts to help build their franchise awarding processes and marketing programs

Sean Fitzgerald, CDO, 1851 Franchise | No Limit Agency

Sean Fitzgerald, CFE is a senior-level franchise executive with 25 years of experience working with brands ranging from startup franchise concepts to large developed franchise systems. This level of experience provides unique insight and perspective in growing, operating and building franchise brands. His expertise includes franchise sales, development, marketing, lead generation, digital marketing, content marketing, lead flow management, candidate journey mapping, PR, web design, SEO/SEM, CRM, franchise operations, multi-unit development, franchise compliance, training and franchisor/franchisee relations. Currently, Fitzgerald is the Chief Development Strategist for No Limit Agency and 1851 Franchise, providing strategy for many well-known brands including Dairy Queen, Great Clips, Buffalo Wings and Rings, Two Men and a Truck and Sylvan Learning. His experience also covers a wide range of industries including retail, restaurant, hospitality, service, healthcare and technology. No Limit Agency is a Chicago-based PR and marketing agency that establishes and elevates brands by delivering their message to the masses with fresh thinking and boundless creativity. 1851 Franchise is both a leading industry publication and content marketing platform creating a digital newsroom for brands.

Formerly Executive Vice President for BrightStar Care, Senior VP of Quiznos and National Vice President of Franchise Development for Wireless Zone, a Verizon Wireless retail chain, Fitzgerald has helped steer brands to impressive growth. In two years, he led the growth of Wireless Zone from under 200 locations to over 480 stores. Prior to his role with Wireless Zone, he was COO of a startup women's fitness franchise that grew to over 100 franchisees and 250 locations in three years. Fitzgerald also was the co-founder and COO of an automotive accessory retail chain out of Cincinnati, Ohio, which grew to become a national franchise and eventual IPO trading on the NASDAQ-QTC.

Keith Gerson, CFE, President of Franchise Ops & CMO, FranConnect

Keith Gerson brings 40+ years of executive level expertise as a passionate and driven Franchisor and Franchisee with a proven track-record in building rapid-growth, and highly profitable franchise organizations. Over the last five years, Keith has served as President and Chief Customer Advocate for FranConnect where he has been able to work closely with many Executive Boards and Leadership Teams that are part of FranConnect’s portfolio of 800+ brands and 148,00 locations. His focus is on helping franchisors to get to their desired future state in sales, operations, communications, and engagement. Recognized in franchising circles for his extensive leadership experience, and ability to drive execution, Keith is a highly-rated keynote speaker and has had the rare opportunity to have created several leading franchise systems from their very conception through launch and sustained growth taking these systems from micro-emerging status to that of successful enterprise level brands.