Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue III, 2013 | Page 65

details about the new “Franchising Cares”
initiative. Conference Chair Sean Falk introduced Laura Castelvi, senior manager
for community outreach at the Semper Fi
Fund, who provided additional details about
the organization. Since its establishment
in 2004, Semper Fi has issued more than
56,000 grants totaling more than $74 million to more than 9,300 injured Marines
and their families.
NFL kicker and four-time Pro Bowler
David Akers took the stage and encouraged
the audience to “get outside of yourself.”
He said this was possible by giving “money,
time, resources, and passion.” Akers, who
has scored more points than anyone in the
NFL since 2000 (although he was first to
acknowledge that he had a terrible 2012),
said he’d planned to be a teacher before
finding his way to an NFL career. His
interest in helping children led him to
establish the David Akers Kicks for Kids
organization in 2001. Soft-spoken, and
not nearly as big as most expected of an
NFL player, Akers urged the audience to
“invest in someone.” He’s adopted three
children overseas, and said people don’t
have to change the world, “but you can
change one person’s world.”
Next up was franchise economist Darrell
Johnson, CEO of FRANdata, who delivered his assessment of the state of the current economy and how it is affecting both
consumers and franchisees. “There’s still
consumer debt, recovery takes time,” he
said. Despite the persistence of consumer
debt, a slow housing market, and weak
consumer confidence, he said the economy

“Reducing
FTEs has to be
completed with
one eye toward
customer service.”
—David Barr
is improving “slowly and fitfully.” Addressing the ongoing paralysis in Congress, he
made what he called a “bold prediction”
that Congress will strike a grand bargain
this year on the economy. Citing Winston
Churchill’s observation that the U.S. will
do the right thing—only after exhausti