FranStop

FranStop, LLC is owned in equal parts by SFS Franchise Sales, LLC, (“SFS”) a Minnesota limited liability company and Merrymeeting, Inc. (“Merrymeeting”), a Delaware corporation. SFS is owned by Scott Evert and Merrymeeting is owned by John Davies, Merrymeeting’s Chairman, President and CEO, and IVM Intersurer BV, a Netherlands holding company that specializes in private equity investing.


Peter Carlson
FranStop

Mr. Carlson is Franstop's Franchise Director. He oversees franchisor partnerships, franchisee training and support, franchise sales and future market development.

Peter has successfully consulted with dozens of franchisors on how to improve their franchise sales process, while introducing them to unique ways of reaching their markets. Mr. Carlson has also assisted hundreds of prospective franchise buyers in exploring business ownership.

Peter has been a successful business owner and entrepreneur. Early in his career, Peter founded a distribution company selling products to National Basketball Association teams. Peter was also one of ten founding members of Search401k, a successful on-line service for financial intermediaries used by Manulife Financial, American Funds, and Prudential among others.

Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, Peter began his career in television sales with KARE 11, the Minneapolis NBC affiliate owned and operated by Gannett. During his 11 years with KARE, Peter was nominated for Gannett sales executive of the year 3 times. He has worked with 100’s of business owners to help promote and market their business, from small retailers to clients such as The Minnesota Vikings, Best Buy and Menards.

Peter holds a MA graduate degree in Psychology and undergraduate BA in Marketing.


Matt Harper
Brand Manager
FranStop

Mr. Harper is responsible for the brand management and development of FranStop. He has extensive experience in all aspects of franchise development and management. Matt's experience also includes founding and owning independent and franchised restaurant concepts. Matt graduated from Kent State University in 1981 with a BS degree in Marketing.

Mr. Harper enjoys all types of sports, coaching youth athletics, cooking and traveling. Matt has been married to his wife Shirley for 25 years and has 3 children.


Mr. John Davies
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Merrymeeting, Inc. (MMI)

In 2001, Mr. Davies and Patrick Enthoven, his long time friend and business partner, founded Meerymeeting, Inc. MMI has subsequently focused on acquiring and developing franchise systems and related service companies.

MMI currently owns and manages 6 franchise companies with 1,700 franchised locations in 30 countries. Prior to founding MMI, John was CEO of Netrex, LLC, a New York based private equity investment firm specializing in buying and developing insurance related businesses.

John has a BS in Economics and an MBA. He also holds the following professional certifications: Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter (CPCU), Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) and Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC).

He enjoys spending his time golfing, competing in marathons and traveling with his family. He and his wife, Allyn, have been married for 26 years and have two children.


Mr. Scott Evert

Scott Evert, Director of Franstop, joined Sunbelt Business Brokers, a franchisor of approximately 300 business broker offices, in 2000. He created and formalized the Sunbelt Franchise sales and re-sales program via a partnership with Sunbelt which evolved into Franstop. In addition to his duties as the Director of FranStop, he is the president and majority owner of the Sunbelt Business Broker (Sunbelt Midwest) offices in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Chicago with almost 50 associates. Sunbelt Midwest has a successful franchise consulting business. He is a licensed business broker, with 25 years experience of buying and selling businesses. Mr. Evert has obtained the Certified Business Intermediary (CBI) designation from the International Business Brokers Association. Prior to the acquisition of Sunbelt by Merrymeeting, Mr. Evert was part of Sunbelt’s board of directors. In addition, Mr. Evert is a financial partner in several businesses.

Mr. Evert began his career in the early 80's, when he founded a video distribution business (specializing in helping owners start and exit the video business), that grew to over $10 million in sales with over 100 employees. He subsequently sold his company to Major Video Concepts, a $400 million distributor and became its Sr. V.P. of Sales. During his ten year career with Major, Mr. Evert initiated many strategic acquisitions and divestures of companies that ranged in size from $100k-$20 million in sales, as well being instrumental in acquiring a competitor with $50 million in sales. In addition, Mr. Evert helped facilitate the sale or acquisition for many of Major's clients. Mr. Evert left Major in 2000 to start Sunbelt Midwest.