Meet The Team

Gary Bauer – JAN-PRO Brand President

From April 2020 to present, Gary has been the Brand President for JAN-PRO Franchising International, Inc. and JAN-PRO Enterprises, LLC.

From October 2016 through March 2020, Gary served as Operations Manager of Orkin Pest Control. Gary served as CEO of BDRY Systems from September 2015 to May 2016.

From September 2000 to August 2015, Gary served in various senior executive roles for the AmeriSpec, Furniture Medic, ServiceMaster Clean, and ServiceMaster Restore franchise brands, including serving as Chief Operations Officer of the ServiceMaster Franchise Group from March 2012 to August 2015.

Gary is based in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Paul Scales: Vice President of Operations

Paul has been our Vice President of Operations since July 2023.

From February 2020 until July of 2023, Paul was the Regional Vice President with United Franchise group in the Midwest. Prior to that, Paul served as President and Founder of the Cleaning Pros from October 2017 until October 2019.

From January of 2007 until September 2017 Paul was the Director of Business Development for System4. Prior to that Paul held multiple Roles with Coverall Cleaning Concepts from January 1996 until December 2006.

Paul is based in Columbus, Ohio.

Karen Forrest: Vice President of Marketing

Karen has been our Vice President of Marketing since June 2021.

From August 2020 until May 2021, Karen served as an independent Marketing Consultant in Atlanta, Georgia. Prior to that, from September 2017 to August 2020, Karen served as Director of Global Marketing for InterContinental Hotels Group in Atlanta, Georgia. From December 2015 to September 2017, Karen served as Global Director of the IHG Rewards Club of InterContinental Hotels Group in Atlanta, Georgia.

Karen is based in Atlanta, Georgia.

Neeraj Gupta: Vice President of Training, Technical Development and Sourcing

Neeraj has been our Vice President of Technical Development, Training and Sourcing since September 2020.

From October 2016 until August 2020, Neeraj was the Vice President of Excelerate Learning, LLC in Memphis, Tennessee. Prior to that, from June 2001 until September 2016, Neeraj was the Director of Product Research and Development for the ServiceMaster Franchise Group in Memphis, Tennessee.

Neeraj is based in Memphis, Tennessee.

Empower Brands Team

Scott Zide – CEO

Scott has been Outdoor Living Brands’ President & COO since 2008 and joined the LYNX Franchising team last fall after the acquisition of OLB. He began working with Outdoor Lighting Perspectives in 2000 as a franchise owner 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.
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 in his new role. Scott graduated from the University of Kansas with a bachelor’s degree in business management.

Michael Borreca – SVP & CFO

Michael is the Senior Vice President and CFO of LYNX Franchising. At LYNX, 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 in order to closely align planning with financial results. Before joining LYNX, 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.

Tom O’Hare – SVP & COO

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.

Andrew Forrest – VP of Technology

Andrew is our Vice President of Technology having previously served as Director of IT. At Lynx, Andrew is responsible for IT strategy across all of our brands, ensuring strong vendor partnerships along with evaluating emerging technologies and trends which may benefit the group as a whole. Data and network security are high priority, key aspects that he is responsible for along with brand wide software initiatives. Prior to joining Lynx, Andrew served as Head of IT at Abbey Protection Group (Specialist Legal advice line providers and tax insurance) in London, England where he was responsible for both the applications portfolio along with the infrastructure and network operations across all sites within the group. Andrew holds a Bcom Informatics degree and has a strong background in software development and project management. Andrew is a keen traveler and nature photographer, having lived on 4 different continents during the last 20 years. He now resides in Roswell, GA.