Greg Flynn is the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Flynn Restaurant Group and Flynn Properties. With more than 1,250 Applebee’s, Taco Bell, Panera, and Arby's restaurants doing greater than $2.3 billion in sales and directly employing more than 48,000 people in 33 states, Flynn Restaurant Group is the largest franchise operator in the US. Flynn Properties invests in commercial properties on the West Coast and has owned and managed more than 3 million square feet since its founding in 1994; it also owns, in partnership, the luxury resorts Esperanza, located in Los Cabos, Mexico, the Carneros Resort and Solage, both located in the Napa Valley, and the Hotel Madeline 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 twice been named Franchisee of the Year and three 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 board of the Exploratorium, the Brown University President’s Leadership Council, and the Applebee’s Franchise Business Council. He also serves on the Strategic Advisory Group of Goldman Sachs’ West Street Capital Partners VII and the Executive Advisory Board of Cove Hill Partners, L.P. 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 1,200 restaurants. He is also responsible for overseeing the organization’s Arby’s business 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.
As President of RB American, Jessica oversees FRG’s 350+ Arby’s restaurants.
She started her career 20 years ago with Red Robin where she developed a passion for building teams and developing people which has strongly influenced her career.
Since then she has held several senior leadership positions with Yum Brands - first with Pizza Hut International and then with Taco Bell where she lead all corporate restaurants in the Western half of the US before taking a role overseeing Taco Bell’s Restaurant Excellence Team.
In addition, directly prior to joining FRG, Jessica served as COO for Nandos Peri Peri’s US Business.
Jessica graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Biology from University of Oregon.
Bo Davis is a Vice President of Operations for RB American, currently overseeing the Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Wichita, and St. Louis markets.
He is also responsible for coordinating the training and development of RBA’s +7,500 team members and oversees major roll-outs in support of key initiatives across the business.
Bo joined Flynn Restaurant Group in December of 2018 when US Beef was acquired by FRG.
He currently serves on the Arby’s Operations Council and received his Bachelor of Science degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management from the University of Missouri – Columbia.
Bo lives in Oklahoma with his wife Marcy and their three children.
RB 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.
Izorah Tallent – Tulsa
Mike Soucie – Northwest
Tim Bouma – OKC
Jeff Baranco – Mountain North
Troy Smith – Mountain South
Jeremy McGraw – Arkansas
Tom Kelly – Ozark
Cas Banaszek – Kansas City
Matthew Strange – Wichita
Rick Morris – St. Louis
Our Department Heads work together with our senior operating team to support the growth of RB 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