The franchise sales organization tapped a three-decade franchising veteran to lead its next growth phase under owner Southfield Capital.
Franchise FastLane, the Omaha-based franchise sales organization owned by private equity firm Southfield Capital, named Heather Harris as chief executive officer effective immediately. Harris spent nearly three decades in franchising, most recently as CEO of Uni K Wax and earlier as president of CycleBar and Intelligent Office.
At CycleBar, Harris helped grow the boutique fitness concept from four locations to more than 200, experience Southfield Capital is betting will translate directly into FastLane's core business of building out franchisee sales pipelines for emerging brands. Her mandate is to strengthen support for franchise consultants and the entrepreneurs FastLane connects with franchisors.
The appointment lands as FastLane expands its own footprint. The company recently acquired Franchise Creator to support early-stage franchise brands and named a new vice president of consultant relations, moves that signal Southfield is investing in FastLane as a platform rather than a static portfolio holding.
Franchise sales organizations sit at the center of how brands recruit new owners, so leadership changes at firms like FastLane ripple through to the multi-unit operators and first-time franchisees on the other side of the deal. A CEO with direct operating experience inside franchise systems, rather than a pure sales or private equity background, suggests FastLane wants to sharpen its diligence on which brands and candidates it backs.
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