Neal K. Aronson

Neal Aronson became a member of our board of directors in December 2020, previously served as a member of the board of managers of Driven Investor LLC, and serves as chairman of our board of directors. Mr. Aronson founded Roark and serves as its Managing Partner, a position he has held since 2001. Prior to founding Roark, Mr. Aronson was Co-Founder and Chief Financial Officer for U.S. Franchise Systems, Inc., or USFS, a franchisor of hotel chains. Prior to USFS, Mr. Aronson was a private equity professional at Rosecliff (a successor company to Acadia Partners), Odyssey Partners and Acadia Partners (now Oak Hill). Mr. Aronson began his career in the corporate finance department at Drexel, Burnham, Lambert Inc. Mr. Aronson received a B.A. from Lehigh University. Mr. Aronson’s experience as a private equity partner, chief financial officer and in other senior executive leadership roles working with franchise companies in the retail, consumer and business services industries, and knowledge of complex financial matters provide him with valuable and relevant experience in franchise administration, strategic planning, corporate finance, financial reporting, mergers and acquisitions and leadership of complex organizations, and provides him with the qualifications and skills to serve as a director.