Jennifer S Roberts

CFE, President, Roberts Consulting Services

Jennifer S. Roberts, founder of Roberts Consulting Services (RCS) & FranchiseOperations.com, works hand-in-hand with franchise organizations to design operational support and training programs to promote successful franchise channels. She and her associates also work directly with franchisees in the areas of organizational development and planning for strategic growth. RCS recently added two new service offerings: conducting performance audits and customer satisfaction programs. These can be done at the request of the franchisor or franchisee.

Jennifer is a graduate of the Fast Track MBA program, offered by the International Institute for Franchise Education at Nova Southeastern University, H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship. Her undergraduate work was done at Indiana University, where she received a double major BA in International Communications/Public Relations and Psychology. Jennifer also holds her certification in Alternative Dispute Resolution/Mediation from UCLA. She has served as an active member of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Mediation Panel for the Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Jennifer is also proud to carry her CFE (Certified Franchise Executive) designation with the International Franchise Association (IFA). She is actively involved with IFA committees and participates in Franchise Awareness Day on Capitol Hill. She continues to attend seminars and training on a regular basis in the area of franchise development, management and dispute resolution. Jennifer holds numerous other certifications in organizational development and training as well.

She has over 15 years of experience in management, business operations, development of training/support programs and franchise sales. She specializes in working with emerging franchisors to create strong franchise support programs. Her “Franchise in a Box” program includes: creation of operations and training manuals, initial franchise training/continuous education programs, developing preferred vendor programs and field support services. She has also played an integral role in the interview and selection process of new franchise candidates for her clients.

Prior to RCS, Jennifer served in several key roles with New Horizons Computer Learning Centers, the world’s largest training integrator, with over 200 locations worldwide. She started her career at New Horizons as a Field Operations Specialist. In this role, Jennifer learned how to manage every aspect of a New Horizons franchise – from teaching the classes to managing the entire business operation. She served as a plug and play manager for centers in times of transition/start-up, and conducted sales training for the Account Executives and Managers. She was then promoted to the position of Program Development Manager for the company owned locations.

As the Program Development Manager with New Horizons, Jennifer was responsible for creating key programs that would be tested first in the company owned locations and then later rolled out to the entire franchise channel. Some of these programs included revising the existing Account Executive training program, introducing quality control/customer satisfaction programs and best practices. She then moved on to become the International Start-up Manager.

In the role of the International Start-up Manager, Jennifer had the great fortune of working with new franchise locations worldwide. She would spend time working with the General Managers/Owners to help hire, train and coach the staff in their first critical months of operation. She also worked with some of the existing international locations to help retrain their management staff and get them “back to basics.”

After building a strong foundation in franchising with New Horizons, Jennifer decided that she wanted to share her knowledge and skills with other franchisors, and thus started Roberts Consulting Services. She has built strategic alliances with quality organizations to help provide RCS clients with a full array of services to run their businesses more effectively.

In addition to providing operations and management consulting, Jennifer also conducts training sessions and seminars on leadership, management, team building, sales, customer service, and employee retention. She is an instructor in the International Institute for Franchise Education at Nova Southeastern University in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and with Chapman University’s Leadership Foundation in Orange, California.