Wise Decisions & Right Actions

R. Wallace Hite
Managing Partner

Mr. Hite formed Strategic Advisory Partners in 2005 to provide strategic planning, franchise operations and financial advisory services to emerging brands by applying his 30+ years of operations, franchising and senior management experience.

Prior to forming Strategic Advisory Partners, Mr. Hite was Managing Partner and a founder of Weichmann-Hite Partners where they completed over 50 transactions and advisories. Mr. Hite held CEO, President, and COO positions with regional and national chain restaurant companies where he has been responsibility for 894 restaurants and over $500 million in sales. His experience includes at a CEO or COO level, QSR, Quick Casual, Family Dine, Casual Dine, and Fine Dine. He has been both a franchisor and franchisee domestically and on the international stage. Mr. Hite was part of the senior management team that turned Sonic around and lead it to 22 successive quarters of double digit same store sales growth. He was a partner in the subsequent leveraged buyout of Sonic. Mr. Hite's international experience includes a tour as Group Director of Development for a Middle Eastern company where he developed and wrote strategic plans for five franchise brands encompassing all GCC countries, Egypt and North Africa. Mr. Hite began his career with the parent company of Holiday Inns where he rose to district food and beverage director by the age of 23.

Mr. Hite is a graduate of Oklahoma State University with a BS in Hotel and Restaurant Administration. He served in an advisory capacity to and a guest lecturer for the School of Hotel and Restaurant Administration at OSU. Mr. Hite was selected as an Outstanding Young Man in America, served on the advisory board of the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and was founding president of the Food Bank in his home town of Enid, Oklahoma.

Mr. Hite has been married to the former Karol Kennedy for 27+ years. They have one son, a recent graduate of Vanderbilt University who is now with Merrill Lynch.

Affiliates

Lee Cohn

Lee Cohn co-founded Big 4 Restaurants Inc. in 1973. He is the creative talent behind Big 4’s distinctive concepts. A nationally recognized leader in the restaurant business, Cohn has graced the covers of and has been featured in virtually all of the restaurant industry’s major trade journals including Nations Restaurant News, Restaurants and Institutions, Food Service Marketing and Western Foodservice among others. Major features on subjects ranging from employee motivation to concept development and quality assurance have appeared in major publications. Cohn has been featured on several National Restaurant Association panels and speaker symposiums. A graduate of Arizona State University College of Business, Cohn’s credits include co-development of Ed Debevics with Rich Melman of Lettuce Entertain You, consultation assignments in the US and Asia. He was awarded the first Entrepreneur of the Year Award from Arizona State University in 1984. Active in the local community Cohn has served on the Boards of the Valley Big Brothers and Sisters, The Phoenix Thunderbirds, Boys Hope –Girls Hope, the Phoenix Ballet, The Fiesta Bowl and the Young Presidents Organization.

Currently Cohn serves on the Board of Directors of Morton’s Restaurant Group, Marie Callender’s, and Luther’s BBQ. His recent consulting projects include an evaluation of the viability of a $300,000,000 restaurant chain on behalf of the Bondholders, creating foodservice facilities for a Casino in Louisiana, creating a restaurant concept for a group of investors in Hong Kong (Dan Ryan’s Windy City Grill).

Craig T. Weichmann, CFA

Mr. Weichmann was a Managing Director with the Investment Banking Department of First Tennessee Securities Corporation, a division of First Tennessee Bank, from 1999-2001. Prior to this position, Mr. Weichmann was with the Investment Banking Division of Morgan Keegan in 1999. Mr. Weichmann spent 21 years at Morgan Keegan primarily as the Senior Consumer Analyst (Restaurants and Retailers) from 1979-1999. Mr. Weichmann's initial positions were in the finance department of Holiday Inns, Inc., the dominant lodging chain in the U.S. from 1975-1979. Mr. Weichmann started his career at Eppler, Guerin & Turner, A Dallas based regional Investment Banking firm from 1972-1973.

Mr. Weichmann has worked on numerous transactions, which includes 30 IPO's and secondary offerings in the last seven years at Morgan Keegan. Since then he has broadened his scope to include Fairness Opinions relating to sale transactions, sell-side engagements for public companies, strategic evaluations, business and valuation reviews for several loan proposals and private placements. While serving as an analyst, Mr. Weichmann distinguished himself by being ranked three times by the Wall Street Journal (1993, 1998, and 1999) as a top analyst. In addition, Institutional Investor magazine rated Mr. Weichmann as the number one stock picker in the nation in their Home Run Hitter edition in 1989. Mr. Weichmann has made frequent appearances at industry conferences and has been regularly quoted in numerous publications and trade journals. Mr. Weichmann received his CFA designation in 1982.

Mr. Weichmann received his B.A. degree in Economics with Departmental Distinction from Southern Methodist University and his M. B. A. degree in finance from the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia.

Advisors to the Strategic Advisory Partners:

C. Stephen Lynn
Chairman of the Board
Cummings, Incorporated

Steve Lynn believes corporations increase profits when they put values first. It’s a philosophy that has served Lynn well in his career as chief executive officer of two major public companies.

Currently, Lynn is the majority owner and serves as Chairman of Cummings Incorporated. At almost 60 years old, the company is one of the oldest national sign companies in the USA, with customers including Chevron, Chrysler, KFC, Holiday Inn, Taco Bell, Church’s, Wells Fargo Bank, Bank of America, Pizza Hut, Fleet Bank, CVS, Long John Silver’s, and A&W.

In April 1995, Lynn was named Chairman and CEO of Shoney’s, Inc., owner and franchisor of more than 1,500 Shoney’s, Captain D’s, Pargo’s and Fifth Quarter Steakhouses. Lynn came to Shoney’s after 12 years as Chairman and CEO of Sonic Corporation. He built the top-notch management team, which transformed a struggling company into the nation’s largest chain of drive-in restaurants and the ‘number two’ hamburger chair in the Southwest, with approximately $2 billion in system-wide sales. Lynn acquired the company in a leveraged buyout in 1986 and Sonic experienced unprecedented same store sales growth with an average increase of eight percent per year over his tenure. A key factor in the establishment of Sonic’s success was an “ownership” culture where unit managers own part of their restaurants. Lynn built strong relationships with franchisees.

Prior to Sonic, Lynn was executive vice president and chief operating officer for the Burtson Corporation, a privately owned, restaurant chain headquartered in Southern California.

Before joining Burtson, Lynn left the food service industry for three years and served as vice president for Century 21 Real Estate Corporation at their corporate headquarters in Irvine, California. During this time, he functioned in a dual role in charge of the Product Control and Service Division, as well as president and chief executive officer of Marquest, Inc., a marketing support subsidiary of Century 21 Real Estate Corporation.

In June of 1973, Lynn began his experience in the food industry when he spent five years with Kentucky Fried Chicken Corporation where he was director of the Distribution Division. His responsibilities for the $100 million plus division included establishing and managing eight company warehouses, three public warehouses, and 23 wholesale food service distributors.

Lynn began his career with Brown and Williams Corporation as an industrial engineer responsible for the raw materials processing and recycling departments. He received his B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Tennessee Technological University and his M.B.A. from the University of Louisville, where he graduated Cum Laude.

An alumnus of Leadership Nashville, Lynn serves on the board of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, Tennessee Tech University, University of Louisville (past), National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, and LaGrange College.

During his 12 years in Oklahoma, Lynn served on numerous boards, including: The Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce, Oklahoma State Chamber of Commerce (past chairman), Allied Arts Foundation, City Bank, The Salvation Army, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Young Presidents’ Organization (past chairman), Oklahoma Baptist Medical Center, Oklahoma City Art Museum, University of Louisville and The National Cowboy Hall of Fame. Lynn is also an alumnus of Leadership Oklahoma and Leadership Oklahoma City. Lynn is a past chairman of the International Franchise Association (a trade association representing most of the franchise organizations in the world).

Honors Include:

• 2000 Inducted into the Tennessee Tech University Athletic Hall of Fame
• 1998 Inducted into the International Franchise Association’s Hall of Fame
• 1994 Outstanding Alumnus Tennessee Tech University
• 1992 Outstanding Engineering Graduate - Tennessee Tech University
• 1991 Outstanding Alumnus - University of Louisville
• 1987 Entrepreneur of the Year - Venture Magazine

Additional Boards / Honors:

• Mr. Lynn was listed in both the National and International versions of Who’s Who in Business.
• University of Oklahoma School of Business Board
• Oklahoma City University Trustee
• Mr. Lynn purchased and is chairman of Cummings Incorporated. Cummings supplies signs for Chevron, Chrysler, KFC and Holiday Inn, to name a few.

Charities:

• Susan Gray School: The school serves abused children from birth to age five. It also serves children with severe mental and physical disabilities.
• Rochelle Center: They provide day services for adults with disabilities, mostly mental retardation.
• YCAP: Vision - “Turning tragedies into triumphs…. one child, one family, one community at a time.” 10-15 year old boys and girls, at risk youth and their families, early intervention with children, dealing with children who have already crossed that line, YCAP youth home for kids whose parents may be incarcerated.
• Chamber of Commerce: Board of Governors
• League for Deaf and Hard of Hearing: Board of Governors
• United Way: Chaired the Middle Tennessee Campaign
• Billy Graham Crusade: Finance Committee

“There is a truism in life. It is called different names, tithing, joyful, sacrificial giving. It applies to time, talent, love, and money. When you give, it always comes back to you.”

...C. Stephen Lynn