Veteran Franchise Consultant and Executive Receives Award for Distinguished Service and Leadership

The iFranchise Group a leading Franchise consulting firm, proudly announced that Leonard Swartz, a Senior Advisor for iFranchise Group and career franchise executive, has been awarded this year’s William Rosenberg Distinguished Service Award.

The William Rosenberg Distinguished Service Award was established by the IFA (International Franchise Association) Educational Foundation through a donation from the Rosenberg Family Foundation. The award, presented annually at the IFA Annual Convention, is granted to a single individual who has made significant contributions to franchise education, through research, teaching, fund raising, or other activities or service.  Past recipients of the award include franchise luminaries such as Lew Rudnick, Irl Marshall, and Arthur Karp. 

Mr. Swartz is originally from Boston, and is a 1960 graduate of Northeastern University. He is a CPA and a Certified Franchise Executive, and is a noted authority on franchising, both in the U.S. and internationally. He has authored numerous articles on both international Franchising and franchising in general. His specialty at the iFranchise Group, a Chicago-based franchise consulting firm, is in Strategic Planning and International Development. 

Over the course of Mr. Swartz’s career of more than 47 years in franchising, he has done work or lived in over 45 countries, including the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. He has been the president of six different firms and a senior executive at four more, including prominent franchisors such as Dunkin’ Donuts, a temporary help division of Snelling & Snelling, ADECCO (Adia Services), Dunhill Personnel, Postal Instant Press (PIP Printing), Chicken Delight, and a division of ITT. During his tenure at Dunkin’ Donuts, Mr. Swartz worked closely with William Rosenberg, who founded the Dunkin’ Donuts concept in 1950, and who also co-founded the IFA in 1960.

Before joining the franchise consulting practice of the iFranchise Group, Mr. Swartz also spent a decade heading the franchise consulting arm of Arthur Andersen, and he was an advisor on international franchise consulting at Horwath International. Mr. Swartz has provided franchise consulting services to dozens of Fortune 2000 businesses, as well as to hundreds of smaller franchisors.

“We are extremely proud to have Leonard on our team,” states iFranchise Group CEO, Mark Siebert. “This is certainly a well deserved honor for him, and one that is a long time coming. It demonstrates what an incredible resource Leonard is to our group, to our franchisor clients, and to franchise systems around the world. We couldn’t be happier for Leonard as he is honored by the IFA.”

From his home in New York City, where he resides with his wife Brenda, Mr. Swartz says, “I am deeply honored and humbled as I receive this award, especially since Bill Rosenberg was my uncle and godfather. I am in good company with fellow recipients of past years, and I see it is a capstone to my career in franchising. I look forward to continuing to work with both franchise consulting experts, as well as newcomers to franchising, in the years ahead.”

About iFranchise Group
iFranchise Group is a leading franchise consulting firm that offers the skills of the nation's top professionals in franchise strategic planning, operations training and documentation, franchise marketing and sales, advertising fund management, franchise recruitment, and development of Internet-based applications for emerging and established franchise companies worldwide. Since its inception in 1998, iFranchise Group has dedicated its efforts to establishing long-term, strategic relationships with franchisors, both new and established, and other companies seeking consultative guidance with business expansion strategies. With a staff of franchise consultants with a combined 450+ years of experience in franchise development and implementation, iFranchise Group has worked with over 30 Fortune 2000 companies and with 98 of the world’s top 200 franchisors as rated by Franchise Times magazine. Clients include companies from the United States, Canada, as well as dozens of countries in Latin America, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.