ZIPS Appoints Four to Corporate Team

SAVAGE, Md. — Bob Barry, President/CEO of ZIPS Franchising LLC, the national chain of corporate and franchised garment care locations, recently announced that the company has added four new members to its corporate team.

The new hires are:

Mike Waintraub, Director of Business Development — Waintraub is charged with attracting new franchisees and encouraging existing franchisees to add locations, and with building commercial business for all locations. Waintraub is the former founder/operator of Captain Dry Clean and Princeton Linen Supply, two Central New Jersey companies providing dry cleaning and laundry pickup and delivery services to residential, office, restaurant and hospitality clients. Earlier in his career, he was a corporate client relationship manager with UBS Wealth Management. He holds a degree in business/corporate communications from William Paterson University of New Jersey.
Claire Hofmann, Digital Marketing Coordinator — Hofmann is tasked with assisting on digital marketing campaigns, helping manage website updates, conducting research, and ensuring the success of all marketing initiatives. Hofmann was previously digital content producer at Flying Dog Brewery and a marketing coordinator at Atwater’s Traditional Food. She brings experience managing social media, brainstorming and executing marketing campaigns, copywriting, and email marketing. She holds bachelor’s degrees in mass communications & advertising and in psychology from Towson University.
Megan Sterner, Controller — Sterner will handle critical financial responsibilities ranging from cash-flow management to internal controls, financial statement preparation, forecasting, modeling and more. A dedicated senior accounting leader with more than 12 years of experience, she spent the past three years as a public accountant. Having earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration and management from Stevenson University in Maryland, she is currently completing a master’s degree in accounting through the University of Maryland’s Global Campus.
Summer Williams, Information Technology Manager — Williams is responsible for corporate and store-level system maintenance. With eight years of experience in the tech space, Williams previously was an IT specialist with Bognet Construction, where she supported 80 employees, and an agent with Geek Squad. She studied at American University in Washington, D.C., concentrating on communications and information systems and technology. She is the primary contact for network and IT vendors and is responsible for generating and overseeing the scope of work on projects, testing and implementing new software and hardware features, conducting technology training, providing tech support and managing integration and development of solutions for payment processing, point-of-sale operations, app development, marketing technology, and cybersecurity.

“We are very fortunate to have added such seasoned and skillful new team members to our organization,” says Barry. “Mike’s experience as a startup business owner in our segment will be incredibly valuable as we strive to attract prospective franchisees looking to become business owners themselves, and he’ll be able to leverage his relationships in the restaurant and hotel segments to bring in commercial business to our stores. Our other three new hires all represent expansion in their respective departments. They enhance our infrastructure with their skills and experience while also increasing our bandwidth to support operations systemwide. Each of our new team members will be integral to our continued growth, evolution and success.”