John Jorgenson comes to FranChoice with an extensive entrepreneurial, franchise sales and consulting background. Given his experience in these three disciplines, he is uniquely qualified to work with you to determine your best course of action when evaluating the potential to purchase a franchise and start your own business.
For a dozen years, John developed hotels, from the ground up, for his own portfolio. This included purchasing franchises for some of the hotel developments. This gave him the opportunity to experience the process of evaluating different franchise companies from several different perspectives. He learned how important it is to completely research a potential franchisor to determine financial stability, claims of performance, marketing and advertising strengths and depth of product knowledge. His hotel ownership experience has given him the ability to counsel an individual regarding the steps of purchasing and building their own business.
Before his entrepreneurial venture, Jorgenson was vice president in charge of all new construction franchise products for Choice Hotels International. During that period, Choice Hotels grew from 300 hotels to over 1,200. There he worked with developers wishing to purchase a franchise and construct a hotel. He guided them through the process to correctly choose the product to match the market dynamics and their personal needs. He also created Choice's Financial Resources Center, which assisted franchisees in preparing loan packages and negotiating financing terms with lenders.
Prior to John's franchise experience, he was a senior partner of Pannell Kerr Forster CPA's, with two hundred offices around the world. There he headed the south-central US consulting practice, consisting of over twenty consultants in four offices. He was the youngest partner in the one hundred year history of the firm. His division performed market feasibility, appraisal, financial modeling and tax implication studies for new and existing businesses primarily in the hospitality industry. He was also the partner in charge of the national consulting engagements with Holiday Inn, Embassy Suites, Residence Inns and Hawthorn Suite Hotels.
John is a graduate of Michigan State University with a Bachelor of Arts, College of Business and the School of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management. John lives with his wife and two daughters in Rockville, Maryland and can be reached at JJorgenson@FranChoice.com or Toll-Free at 888-712-7512.
