Executives Online Appoints Franchise Director

Executives Online, has appointed a Franchise Director to drive further expansion internationally and in the UK and meet growing demand for its services. The move follows the agencyís recent signings of itsí first UK and overseas franchisees.

James OíBrien is a highly experienced managing director and operational director and an international franchise specialist. He joins Executives Online from Choice Hotels where he was Franchise Sales Director. He was previously Managing Director of Business Education International, a Management Training franchisor and prior to that was with the Pitman Training Group (which operated one hundred franchise locations) where he rose from the position of Project Manager, Franchise Development, through to Franchise/Operations Director before becoming Managing Director.

James Oí Brienís career achievements include opening and selling Master Franchises in UK, New Zealand, Ireland, Kuwait and several other Middle East countries; selling and opening fifty UK and Ireland training franchises and managing the brand conversion of a franchise network of 50 franchises. He also won the highly commended award for Franchisor of the Year in 2000 and 2001.

His new role will be to take charge of the development, management and support of Executive Onlineís franchise network, which already includes UK franchisees in the North, the and Midlands, Scotland and international partners in Australia, France and South Africa.

MD of Executives Online, Norrie Johnston, comments: ëWe are delighted to welcome James to our team. We believe our franchise proposition has the potential to create tremendous value for the company but we needed a person with Jamesís specialist skills to help it gain traction and to build a solid plan for its future.

ëOur business is growing fast and there is great demand for our unique mix of traditional recruitment skills which harness technology. Businesses still want a personal service but they also want to take full advantage of the vast potential of online recruitment. With our experienced staff and Talent Bank of over 10,000 executives currently seeking positions and franchisees who can offer a traditional face-to-face service for customers, that is exactly what Executives Online offers. This is a very exciting time for Executives Online and Jamesís skills and experience make him the ideal person to help us realize our vision of developing a truly global brand.í

James Oí Brien comments: ëI am very pleased to be working with Executives Online. I was looking for a position with a progressive and dynamic organisation and Executives Online is just such a company. Its proposition of enabling an individual with a good network of business contacts to very quickly establish an ëonline executive resourcingí business, providing interim managers and fast permanent recruitment from an existing 10,000 strong talent bank is already being well received and is generating much interest from aspiring franchisees. I am very much looking forward to taking the operation to the next stages.í