Meet the leadership team
at Empower Brands

Chief Executive Officer

Scott Zide

Scott began his franchising journey in 2000 when he began working as a franchise owner for Outdoor Lighting Perspectives in St. Louis, Missouri. In 2002, he was hired by Outdoor Lighting Perspectives Franchise (OLPF) as a consultant to help support new franchisees, leading to a full-time position as director of franchise support and then as Vice President managing the day-to-day operations. He was a co-founder of Mosquito Squad in 2004 prior to it being acquired by Outdoor Living Brands in 2009. He then became COO and then became CEO of Empower Brands in 2022.

Scott has spent his entire career in franchising, first as a franchisee before moving to the franchisor side of the relationship. He has played an integral role in the development and growth of the OLB family of franchises. He has a franchisee-first mindset and has made it a priority to bring the voice of the franchisee into every decision and will continue to do so as CEO. Scott graduated from the University of Kansas with a bachelor’s degree in business management.

Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Michael Borreca

Michael Borreca is the Senior Vice President and CFO of Empower Brands. At Empower Brands, Michael is responsible for creating a vision and strategic direction for the overall accounting and finance functions including forecasting, business planning, management reporting and business analytic activities. This also includes the development of key strategic business initiatives to closely align planning with financial results. Before joining LYNX and Empower Brands, Michael served as VP of Corporate Finance and Corporate Treasury for FOCUS Brands Inc., a franchisor of over 5,300 worldwide restaurant locations across 6 brands, where he had responsibility for the corporate finance, external reporting, corporate treasury, and investor relations departments. Prior to that, Michael spent the bulk of his career working for KPMG, LLP management consulting practice where he focused on finance strategy and finance transformations including organizational design, due diligence, process development and improvements, accounting operations, and merger/acquisition integration. 

Michael resides in Alpharetta, GA with his family, is a graduate from Florida State University (MAcc and BS in Finance & Accounting), is a member of the AICPA and is an avid golfer in his free time.

Chief Operations Officer – Commercial Division

Tom O’Hare

Tom has had an extensive career as a senior operations and finance executive with significant long-term experience in franchising, manufacturing, and distribution. He came to LYNX after retiring from franchisor Batteries Plus Bulbs (BPB) where he was Chief Operating Officer responsible for all operations and finance for 14 years. During this time, BPB grew from a small regional operator to a national retail franchised chain with over 700 stores, 300 franchisees and over $600m in system sales. Tom’s experience in operations management and business planning are directly applicable to the opportunities and challenges facing LYNX. Prior to joining Batteries Plus, Tom spent over a decade with GNB Technologies, a major global supplier of automotive and industrial power products.

After progressing through several finance roles, he led the North American operations for the company’s lead acid battery smelters in addition to all logistics operations for the global automotive business. Tom began his career in public accounting in the Irish practice of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd.

Chief Operations Officer – Residential Division

Tom Welter

With a robust background in franchising and operations, Tom proudly serves as the Group President for the residential division of Empower Brands. His background includes roles such as Regional VP of Operations for Yum! Brands, Senior VP of Operations for 24 Hour Fitness franchises, VP pf Franchising for Byrider, COO of Lift Brands, and CEO of Clean Streak Ventures. Directly prior to joining Empower Brands, Tom served as VP for FirstService Residential, overseeing North America’s largest manager or residential communities. As Group President for Empower Brands, Tom leads the strategic direction and overall culture of Empower’s residential brands, building a team of world-class support and providing guidance to accomplish strategic business goals. 

Tom resides in Richmond, Virginia with his family and is a proud graduate and former all-American football player of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Go Cornhuskers!

Chief Development Officer

Scott Sutton

Scott Sutton’s passion for franchise development began with his time at BioLab Franchise Company where he serves as VP of Franchise Development. From there, Scott served in critical franchising leadership roles with Sunbrook Franchising and Deluxe for nearly 13 years. Before his time at Empower Brands, Scott also served as Chief Growth Officer for Threshold Brands, leading the strategy, tactics, and opportunity management for the Franchise Development channel of the business. Scott brings his years of experience to Empower Brands and leads our over initiatives and strategy to help Empower Brands grow our existing brands and acquire new brands to portfolio.

Scott resides in Alpharetta, GA with his family and is a proud graduate of the University of Oklahoma.

Vice President – General Counsel

Sanjay Malhotra

Since August 2022, Sanjay Malhotra has proudly served as Vice President, General Counsel for Empower Brands. From June 2019 to August 2021, Mr. Malhotra was the Chief Legal Officer of Paris Baguette Bon Doux and its US and Canadian affiliates headquartered in Moonachie, New Jersey. From December 2014 to October 2018, Mr. Malhotra was the Global General Counsel of Le Pain Quotidien based in New York, NY and Brussels, Belgium.

Sanjay lives in Richmond, Virginia with his family.

Brand President – Archadeck Outdoor Living

Michael Reeder

Mike is responsible for coaching, training, and mentoring new and existing Archadeck franchisees as well as monitoring the growth of the Archadeck system. Mike joined the Outdoor Living Brands team in 2016 after 15 years as an Archadeck franchisee in Columbus, OH. He began his career in the hospitality business, working for Hyatt Hotels for over 15 years. Mike graduated with a degree in Business Management from the University of Houston.

Brand President – Conserva Irrigation

Russ Jundt

Russ is the founder and Vice President of Conserva Irrigation, the only irrigation company founded on the principles of water conservation. As brand leader, Russ drives the overall priorities and focus of the company including the service offerings, sales processes, strategic partnerships, and more. Russ graduated with B.A. in Business Management from Saint John’s University.

Brand President – FRSTeam

Holly Murry

Holly Murry serves as the Brand President of FRSTeam. Holly is responsible for the vision, culture, and strategic growth plans at FRSTeam. Holly joined FRSTeam over 20 years ago and has worked in the field, national sales, and operations throughout her tenure. In 2006, Holly helped launch the FRSTeam brand internationally as a partner in the new franchise that now has over 50 offices serving the U.S. and Canada for textile and electronics restoration. Holly focused on growth of the company stores and turning around underperforming locations. She helped develop management teams that consistently exceed growth and profitability expectations while maintaining a high level of service and culture. Holly’s passion for helping others succeed continues in her personal life when she helped launch the BACa Foundation in 2012 that helps support those affected by Cancer in the Colorado community and now sits on the Board. Holly resides in Denver, CO with her husband and their 2 children.

Brand President – Intelligent Office

Heather Harris

With nearly 30 years of experience, Harris has led a variety of global businesses ranging from fashion to boutique fitness brands. She has a proven track record of increasing both revenue and profits across multiple categories of business in multiple distribution channels.

Most recently at Corporex, Harris was the Chief Operating Officer at Five Seasons Sports Clubs. In her short time with Five Seasons, Heather restructured the organization, redesigned and 
elevated the logo, developed a digital virtual platform, grew the social media presence, developed unified and consistent brand messaging and created a strong marketing and sales culture to enable Five Seasons to be positioned for growth. Under Heather’s leadership. Five Seasons had the best financial performance in the history of the 30 year old company.

Prior to Five Seasons, Harris served as President of one of the fastest growing franchised brands, CycleBar Franchising LLC. Under her leadership, CycleBar grew to 125 units open and 325 units sold with approximately 2,000 franchise employees before the brand was purchased by a prominent private equity firm.

Prior to CycleBar, Harris spent 20 years in Manhattan, leading a variety of global brands such as Donna Karan Intimates, Calvin Klein Jeans and Handbags, Ralph Lauren Intimates, and Ghurka Accessories. As General Manager and Vice President of DKNY Intimates, she drove strategic direction and execution of a multi-million dollar turn around.

Harris is not just a leader, but a mentor. She speaks at various women’s leadership and franchising events and is an active mentor to the University of Cincinnati’s Lindner School of Business, Women in Leadership, while also heavily involved with Women’s Franchise Network, and an active and proud alumnus of Denison University.

A two-sport college scholar athlete sports has continually provided Harris a variety of leadership opportunities and a strong competitive drive. She continues to coach basketball and is on the board of various clubs and organizations with a focus on developing leaders.

She currently resides in Cincinnati with her husband, Matt and their three children, Hunter and twin girls, Madison, and Lilly. 

Brand President – JAN-PRO

Gary Bauer

Gary Bauer serves as the Brand President of JAN-PRO. Gary has over 30 years of experience with ServiceMaster and served as the COO of multiple ServiceMaster franchise brands (including ServiceMaster Clean and Service Master Restore) for 4 years. Before assuming the role of COO, Gary was the senior leader of the ServiceMaster Clean brand for over 7 years. In total, Gary served over 15 years as part of ServiceMaster’s senior leadership team. Gary joined the corporate team after a decade of experience working for a ServiceMaster Master Franchisee in the Midwest in a variety of roles including operations and franchise sales. Gary is a graduate of Coe College.

Brand President – Outdoor Lighting Perspectives

Rich Young

Rich is responsible for all facets of franchise support for the Outdoor Lighting Perspectives brand, including development and implementation of field support programs, field visits, and trade alliance development. He joined the Outdoor Lighting Perspectives team in 2006 after 13 years in retail management at store, district, and regional levels for Target and Home Depot. Rich graduated with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Madonna University in Livonia, MI.

Brand President – Superior Fence & Rail

Zach Peyton

Mr. Peyton graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point before serving as an officer of the United States Army as an intelligence officer. Mr. Peyton served one tour in Afghanistan and received the Bronze Star for his service. In 2009, Zach left the military and moved to Jacksonville to open Superior Fence & Rail of North Florida. By 2016, Zach had led the North Florida office to be recognized as a leader, not only within the Superior Fence & Rail group, but also within the wider industry. Zach agreed to partner with Chris and use the North Florida office as the model for franchise expansion.

As President, Zach oversees the day-to-day operations of the franchise. He also works directly on franchise development. When he’s not working, Zach spends time with his wife Carlie and their four children.