BY KERRY PIPES
POWERHOUSE WOMEN
IN FRANCHISING
EQUAL OPPORTUNITY MENTOR
Catherine Monson, Fastsigns CEO, has always aimed for the top
C
atherine Monson is CEO of Fastsigns International, the sign and
visual graphics franchise with more
than 570 locations in the U.S., Canada, U.K.,
Brazil, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, the Caribbean,
and Australia. She’s been at the helm of the
brand since coming on board in 2009. Her
desire to run a company goes back to her
teen years, and she has compiled a long and
successful track record as a franchise and
business leader.
“Since I was in junior high school, being a CEO was always what I wanted to
do,” says Monson, who worked alongside
her father in the family business during her
childhood. Following a couple of quick jobs
after college, she found herself working as
a franchise sales coordinator at Sir Speedy
Printing in 1980. She worked her way up
to group vice president of marketing and
training before spending two years in Europe overseeing operations there. In 1999,
she moved to PIP Printing where she was
president for nearly a decade before receiving a call in the summer of 2008 from Roark
Capital, which owned Fastsigns at the time.
“They said there was an opportunity
to lead one of their brands,” she recalls.
“When I asked where and was told ‘Dallas,’ I laughed and said ‘No way I’m leaving Southern California for Dallas!’” Six
months later she was leading Fastsigns as
its CEO. She says the event reinforced for
her to “Never say never.”
The past five years have been a great
ride for Monson. Even with the sale of
Fastsigns, from Roark Capital to Levine
Leichtman Capital Partners last year, she’s
remained focused and dedicated to making
the brand excel. Fastsigns saw system-wide
sales rise to $390 million in 2014 and comp
sales rise more than 10 percent from the
prev