Greg Flynn is the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Flynn Restaurant Group and Flynn Properties. With approximately 2,400 Applebee’s, Taco Bells, Paneras, Arby's, Pizza Huts and Wendy’s restaurants generating $3.5 billion in sales and directly employing 73,000 people in 44 states, Flynn Restaurant Group is the largest franchise operator in the United States. Flynn Properties invests in commercial real estate and has owned and managed more than 3 million square feet since its founding in 1994; it also owns 10 hotels including, in partnership, the luxury resorts Esperanza, located in Los Cabos, Mexico, the Carneros Resort and Solage, both located in the Napa Valley, and the Madeline Hotel in Telluride.
Greg has been recognized as one of the Bay Area’s Most Admired CEO’s by the San Francisco Business Times. He has three times been named Franchisee of the Year and four times named Operator of the Year by Applebee’s Services Inc. He was honored as Restaurant Leader of the Year by Restaurant Business Magazine and Operator of the Year by Nation's Restaurant News. He has also been recognized as Dealmaker of the Year by the Franchise Times and an Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst and Young.
Greg has an AB Magna Cum Laude from Brown University, an MA from Yale University, and an MBA from the Stanford GSB. He serves on the boards of the Exploratorium and the International Franchise Association. He also serves on the Brown University President’s Leadership Council, the Applebee’s Franchise Business Council, the Panera Franchise Advisory Council, the Strategic Advisory Group of Goldman Sachs’ West Street Capital Partners VII, the Executive Advisory Board of Cove Hill Partners, L.P., and as a Yale GSAS Advisor. He is a past chairman of the Golden Gate Chapter of the Young Presidents Organization.
Lorin Cortina serves as EVP and CFO of Flynn Restaurant Group and Flynn Properties. He joined Flynn Holdings in 2001 to oversee capital markets, corporate development, mergers and acquisitions, financial planning and accounting, and restaurant development activities. Prior to joining FRG, Lorin was a VP, Investments for Starwood Financial, Inc. and VP, Acquisitions and AVP, Capital Markets at TriNet Corporate Realty Trust, Inc. Lorin also worked as a consultant with PWC and Deloitte & Touche. Lorin has held senior management positions involved in corporate finance, capital markets and M&A activities, and has successfully led the investment and related capital raise in transactions totaling over several billion dollars in value. Lorin received a B.A. in Business/Economics from the University of California at Santa Barbara and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Brad serves as Chief Operating Officer for Flynn Restaurant Group and has worked with Greg Flynn for seventeen years and with AAG since its founding in 1998. As COO of FRG, he is responsible for operations of all Applebee’s, Taco Bell, and Panera units. Direct reports include all Vice Presidents of Operations, Training and Human Resources. Prior to joining Apple American, Brad served as VP, U.S. Operations, for Vancouver-based Spectra Group of Restaurants and VP, Operations, for Keg Restaurants.
Brad serves on the Applebee’s Operations Council. He holds a B.S.B.A. in Hotel and Restaurant Management from the University of Denver and an M.B.A. from the University of Washington.
As Chief Improvement Officer, Ron is focused on driving incremental value in the business by realizing operational improvement opportunities across Flynn’s more than 2,400 restaurants. He is also responsible for overseeing the organization’s Arby’s, Pizza Hut, and Wendy’s businesses and leads Flynn’s support center based in Cleveland, Ohio.
Prior to joining Flynn, Ron worked for Teachers’ Private Capital where he helped establish Teachers' approach to value creation planning and portfolio management. He also spent more than a decade in management consulting most recently as a partner with Oliver Wyman.
Ron graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Business Administration and a BA in Applied Mathematics and Ancient Literature from the University of Michigan.
Kelly serves as President for Pan American. He started his restaurant career in 1986 with Steak ‘n Shake and immediately fell in love with the restaurant business. In July of 1991 he joined St Louis Bread Company (Panera Bread) managing one of their 6 locations. Kelly was promoted to Operations Services Manager in 1996 and Area Director in 1997 with operations in St. Louis, MO and Atlanta, GA. After a successful career in company operations Kelly joined the Franchise Operations team in 2002 as a business consultant and then was promoted to Director of Franchise Operations supporting 1,100 cafes in the U.S and Canada. Kelly joined the Flynn Restaurant Group in June of 2018 as Sr. VP of Operations and now is the Brand President for Pan American operating ~134 bakery cafes in Washington, Northern California, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kansas, Kentucky, Ohio, and Missouri.
Pan American is built on a substantially differentiated business model. Each geographic region is led by a Market Leader who operates his or her market with great local autonomy while receiving support from the central organization.
Matthew Hollenbeck – Kansas
Chris Negley – Pennsylvania
Bryan Shaffer – West Virginia
Ken Adams – Washington
Steve Haydu – Northern California
Our Department Heads work together with our senior operating team to support the growth of Pan American.
Betsy Mercado, Senior Vice President of Human Resources
Diann Banaszek, Marketing Partner
Pat Eulberg, Vice President of Real Estate
Ron Igarashi, Vice President of Finance
Kasey Mania, Vice President of Procurement
Jacqueline Lee, General Counsel
JP Wiedemer, Senior Vice President of Finance and Accounting
Charles Jarrett, Senior Vice President of Information Technology