Newly created positions pose challenges for the first to pioneer the role, yet also offer the benefits of the blank page, a canvas on which the shiny-eyed executive paints their dreams upon, in theory. This article is part of a Franchise Times digital-only Q3 series on “Lessons in Leadership.”
Chris Andrews joined Unleashed Brands in April as the umbrella franchise company’s first-ever chief information officer.
Chris Andrews was introduced to Unleashed Brands while having lunch with an old high school friend—though he kept up with their acquisition news on LinkedIn, which “almost seems daily at times,” Andrews said. “It’s hard not to see that.”
Unleashed formed last year when Urban Air Adventure Park joined forces with Snapology and created a new umbrella firm to acquire franchises in the child education space. In an impressive year, Unleashed acquired The Little Gym, XP League, Class 101 and Premier Martial Arts.
Andrews was three years into his role as chief information officer at Smoothie King and was reportedly “pretty happy where I was at” during lunch with his friend, Stephen Polozola, chief legal officer at Unleashed. But Polozola made a strong case for the growth potential of the company, and after talking with CEO Michael Browning, Andrews was sold.
“Once anyone talks to Michael, they’re rearing and ready to go and bust through some walls for the guy,” Andrews said.
Within two weeks of meeting, Browning made Andrews an offer to become the company’s first chief information officer.
Andrews said his experience working with Smoothie King’s franchisees—which, at 95 percent franchised, totals about 500 owners with 1,300 locations—will help him in his new role.
“When you have a diverse ownership group, you really realize there isn’t a one-size-fits-all” approach, he said. “You really have to be collaborative with your ownership group and get some pretty good collective feedback on systems and processes on new technology that will be able to aid the majority of folks out there.”
Andrews also learned the benefits of having a symbiotic relationship between the technology department and marketing department, given the convergence of the two with the emergence of “MarTech,” or the range of software and tech tools that help with marketing efforts.
“If you don’t have a strong relationship with your CMO, you won’t be able to accomplish the things you want to,” he added.
Since starting in April as the first CIO at Unleashed, Andrews has started “expanding our use of our data lake,” along with machine learning and analytics, which is his number one priority. He’s also focused on amping up security and streamlining the back-office operations for all the brands under the Unleashed umbrella.
“That’s kind of a core when you’re in franchising, or any multi-unit business—how can I make things easy and repeatable and stable for 10 stores or 2,000 stores?” Andrews said.
Have confidence and flexibility in a new role
A preexisting role typically has well-defined expectations. But if you’re the first to hold your title, that means helping to define your focus areas and deliverables.
“You have to be seasoned enough of an executive that you can step into a role and be secure in what you’re setting out to do,” said Andrews, “but I also think you have to be flexible enough to be able to not stick to the traditional playbook.”
That’s where Andrews’ four years of consulting experience comes into play.
When private equity firm Golden Gate Capital bought On The Border Mexican Grill from Brinker International in 2010, Andrews helped lead the efforts to “create everything from the ground up, which was a huge project and a very big undertaking,” he said. “I had little to work with.”
He had the opportunity to do the same thing when Pei Wei, an Asian fast-casual spinoff of P.F. Chang’s, was sold to PWD Acquisition in 2019. Andrews was key to creating and implementing the new company’s infrastructure, procedures and processes.
“I’m very comfortable coming and stepping into a situation that may be a little gray on what it is that’s under my purvey and what my impact will be on the brand,” said Andrews.
“That’s one of the major reasons I’m here and what gets me excited, and I was able to instill the confidence in Michael that I’m the right guy to do that.”
Read more: Zaxby’s Leader Shares How She’s Pioneering a New Role