Tony Fitzpatrick is the managing partner of Franchise Your Business.

He provides a complete franchise development service for both start up and established franchisors.

Besides creating and developing franchises for many clients he has managed his own master franchise and uses his vast experience to show others how to succeed in this booming industry.

He is a member of the Board of the Irish Franchise Association and is the author of a book “How to Franchise a Business.”

Mr. Fitzpatrick serves on the Advisory Board of the Romanian Franchise Association.

Dr. Gerald Lang is Professor of Marketing and Supply Chain Management at BEM Bordeaux Management School since 2008 and associated Researcher at the Management Research Center of Ecole Polytechnique (PREG-CRG). Prior to this, he held various positions as Strategy and Development Director as well as Project Director within different companies (Bertelsmann, PPR…), responsible for international operational improvement as well as strategic marketing repositioning in the retail sector. He is responsible professor for the teaching module "Retail and Distribution" at BEM and teaches as well international management and marketing. His current research is focusing on the organizational impacts of multi-channel retailing, supply chain management in multi-channel retailing and innovation in the retail sector.

Mary-Ellen qualified with a BA Dip (Art) Ed from Alexander Mackie College, NSW, Australia and is a member of the Licensing Executives Society, the International Trademark Association, The Luxury Marketing Council and the Cosmetic Executive Women’s Network. She is also a Certified Licensing Professional.

Mary-Ellen has 25 years blue chip experience in intellectual property management, protection and exploitation. Prior to joining Brand Finance she was Head of Intellectual Property and Director of Chiltern plc’s wealth management group.

She has carried out numerous projects involving licensing and royalty rate analysis across a variety of sectors including; food and beverages, fashion and luxury brands, petrochemicals and consumer goods.

Mr. Haslauer heads a business consultancy practice in the areas of branding, market positioning and business development in New York.

As an associate working in partnership with AR New York and Visionaire Publications he has spearheaded branding and international positioning programs for companies spanning from fashion conglomerates in Brazil to multimillion dollar merchandising and branding campaign initiatives for the Macy's Group of 800 department stores in the USA.

Mr. Haslauer holds several degrees including Corporate Restructuring, Mergers and Acquisitions & Global Strategy Management from Harvard Business School – Cambridge, USA.

Mr. Atrissi is currently principal of his own design studio, Tarek Atrissi Design (www.atrissi.com), based in the Netherlands.

He was a creative director for Meta Design in Germany, and has consulted with international branding worldwide Firms.

He is the co-author of "Visual Narratives from Arabia" published by UNESCO in 2007, and the founder of www.arabictypography.com , the online communication platform for Arabic Type.

His work has been exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum in New York and is in the permanent Design collection of the Affiche Museum in Holland.

Mr. Atrissi has received several awards for his creative work including the Type Directors Club's & the Dutch Design award.

He holds several degrees including a Masters of Arts in Interactive Multimedia from the Utrecht School of the Arts in Holland and an MFA in Design from the School of Visual Arts in New York.