Meet the FRI Team

Karli FurmageCEO

Karli is our multi-talented boss. Her career spans operations and training roles across a broad base of industries including retail food, apparel, FMCG, telecommunications and pharmaceuticals. After working in six countries, Karli returned to Australia to join Gloria Jean’s Coffees where she progressed through to the role of Global Capability Manager, overseeing the company’s global Operations, Training and Human Resource functions. Prior to joining FRI she established her own consultancy, GoGlobal, to support Australian franchisors with their global expansion plans and collaborated with us on several projects. This worked so well we merged the two companies! Karli is an innovative, hands on CEO who loves to work both on and in the business. She’s super organised (a great balance to our Founder who is super disorganised), a gun facilitator, excellent public speaker and a great strategic planner.

Inside that tough business exterior lies a strong social conscience. For instance Karli recently saved her now best mate Bella the Boxer from extinction at the RSPCA pound and she regularly gets involved in local charity and community projects.

Greg NathanFounder

Greg is the creative genius behind FRI and is widely recognised as an international thought leader on managing the people issues in franchising. He is a registered corporate psychologist and is regularly invited to deliver keynote addresses at franchise sector conferences around the globe. Greg started life in franchising as a multi-unit franchisee with Brumby’s and later became National Marketing and Operations Manager for the franchisor. He is the author of four popular franchising books, including Profitable Partnerships, that have sold over 100,000 copies. He has also developed a number of ground breaking tools and models for the franchising sector such as The Franchise E-Factor and the Nathan Profiler. In 2003 the Franchise Council of Australia presented him with the inaugural National “Contribution to Franchising” Award in recognition of his pioneering work in franchise education and research.

Greg is a passionate blues musician and often goes missing in action while travelling in search of unusual stringed instruments to add to his collection.

Ree-Anna ChatmanOperations Manager

Ree-Anna is a registered psychologist with extensive experience working with hundreds of franchise brands. She has been integral in developing many of FRI's tools and learning programs and has a deep insight into what drives a healthy franchise relationship. You will find Ree-Anna to be an engaging facilitator and presenter with an outstanding ability to connect with both franchisor and franchisee audiences. When not wowing audiences she does an amazing job of managing our Operations team, ensuring that the needs of our clients are properly understood and making sure we have all bases covered. Speaking of bases, Ree is also a State Level Softball Coach with a keen interest in applying the principles of sports psychology to business success.

Don’t worry, Ree-Anna won’t turn up to your franchise conference like this. But here she is decked out in her full softball regalia. Knock it out of the park Ree!

Rob CammLearning Strategist and events manager

Rob is one of the elder statesmen of franchising having worked in the sector for over 18 years. After developing his own unique fast service restaurant chain in the early days of Australian franchising he co-founded and led a well known national franchise consultancy. Rob sold this as part of a move to the USA where he took up a Vice-President role with a national service franchise network. We are delighted Rob recently returned to Australia and has joined FRI as a Learning Strategist where he listens to what our clients need to achieve with their teams and designs custom programs that will deliver the goods. As well as a great learning strategist he is an accomplished presenter, facilitator and coach. Not one to take it easy, Rob is also our Events Manager, pulling together our Forums and Summits to ensure they are world class in content and organisation.

Despite having not cooked fish n’ chips for over 15 years, Rob still remembers the secret ingredients it takes to make the crispiest beer-batter you've ever tasted. And he can still make a mean burger too apparently!

Jason TravisLearning Strategist

Jason has an amazing depth of experience in franchise operations and training, having worked across 25 countries supporting franchisees and local franchisors in the Gloria Jeans Coffees brand. In his role as a learning strategist for FRI he designs customised learning and coaching programs that align with the organisation’s business objectives and meet the real learning needs of participants. He then delivers these programs with impact and pizazz, connecting with people at all levels of a franchise network including franchisees, multi-unit franchisees, franchisor executives and field managers. As well as being an accomplished facilitator, presenter and coach, Jason’s quick wit and lively personality make him an outstanding and engaging conference MC for franchise conferences of all sizes.

Prior to his frenetic work in franchising Jason was a marine biologist studying the lifecycle of turtles on the beaches of North Queensland. Things were a lot slower back then!

Andy ReidDirector of Profitable Partnerships

Andy understands franchising from the ground up. He’s been a multi-unit franchisee with four stores and 80 staff spread across Queensland, operating in a high pressure, competitive retail environment. He also gets franchising from the franchisor’s perspective because, just prior to joining FRI, he was Franchise Manager with Aussie Farmers Direct, training and developing new franchisees whilst coaching existing franchisees to rebuild the business after it was badly damaged in the Queensland floods. As our Director of Profitable Partnerships Andy’s mission is to identify how our talented team can help you to achieve and exceed your business goals. You’ll find him straight forward, reliable and a pleasure to deal with. Expect to be asked lots of direct questions as he will want to know exactly what you do and what your biggest challenges are. He’ll then work with you to identify the opportunities where your franchise network is likely to gain the best value from our products and services. We’re sure you’ll enjoy building a profitable partnership with Andy because he’s passionate about growing your business and ours!

Prior to his franchising experience and corporate career with Mars Confectionary and Diageo, Andy trained to be an Officer at the Duntroon Royal Military College.

Nicole SimpsonConsultant

Nic has an Honours Degree in Psychology from the University of Queensland and has a vision to become a medical doctor. (She is very smart and was ranked at the 98th percentile in her recent medicine entrance exams, which made us all very proud). Nic is amazingly flexible and involved across a range of projects at FRI. If you are having a Franchise Effectiveness Survey completed chances are she will be working with you on it. In addition to her her passion for helping people Nic is a talented musician who plays the french horn in both traditional brass and rock bands.

When Nicole isn’t rocking out at FRI, you’ll find her rocking out in her Indie band, “Cascadeer”.

Ann NathanPublications Director

Ann has a degree in English literature and for many years worked as a Research Fellow at Monash University’s Department of Higher Education. She loves to read and is addicted to Sudoku. Ann looks after our publications division, so if you are ordering books by phone or through our web site, chances are she will be looking after you. She has the dubious honour of being the partner of our Founder and thinks there is a real opportunity for franchise companies to be more environmentally conscious.

Rebecca MurrellConsultant

Bec has an honours degree in psychology and focuses mainly on our Franchise Effectiveness Surveys. If you have the pleasure of working with Bec you will find her to be incredibly friendly, attentive and reliable. She is the Operations Manager’s left hand lady and knows the ins and outs of all our projects.

So you think you can dance? Rebecca happens to be a state-level ballroom dancer, specialising in latin!

Carmen Woollardbookkeeper

Carmen quietly works away in the background looking after our finances and running off a never ending stream of financial reports which give us the illusion that everything is under control. She is a qualified chartered accountant and a whiz on Excel, creating the most elegant spreadsheets you’ve ever seen.

Carmen has a very cute baby, Maddy, which she occasionally brings in so the team can coo and cuddle her.

Professor Chris JacksonResearch and Development Consultant

Chris is Head of the School of Management and Professor of Psychology at the Australian School of Business, University of NSW (phew, that’s a mouthful). He is an expert in the design and use of psychological tests and works with our R&D team on the development and validation of our products. Chris’s energy and enthusiasm for psychology is infectious and his discussions with our team always result in new and valuable insights.

Chris has developed one of the world’s most respected learning styles questionnaires, “The Learning Styles Profiler”, (see www.cymeon.com).