Neal Aronson's Email & Phone

In addition to Founder and Managing Partner of Roark Capital Group, Aronson serves as a member of the Board of Directors for FOCUS Brands (the owner of Carvel Ice Cream, Cinnabon, Moe's Southwest Grill, Schlotzsky's and Seattle's Best Coffee International), Money Mailer Holding Corporation, FASTSIGNS Holding Corporation, and McAlister's Corporation. Aronson also serves on the Board of Directors of Batteries Plus. Prior to founding Roark Capital Group, Aronson was a co-founder, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of U.S. Franchise Systems, one of the fastest growing franchisors in the lodging industry. In less than five years, USFS was transformed from one brand with 22 hotels in nine states to three brands with more than 500 hotels in 50 states and five countries, making USFS the tenth largest hotel company in the United States based upon number of open hotels. USFS was sold in November of 2000, earning its private equity investors a 269% internal rate of return or 5.5x their investment. Prior to USFS, Aronson worked in New York at various private equity and investment banking firms. Aronson was a Principal of Odyssey Partners, L.P., a private investment partnership founded by Jack Nash and Leon Levy with equity capital exceeding $2 billion. Prior to Odyssey, Aronson was a Principal and General Partner at Acadia Partners, L.P., a $1.7 billion investment partnership whose founding partners included the Robert M. Bass Group, the American Express Companies and the Equitable Life Assurance Society, and subsequently a Managing Director of its successor company Rosecliff Inc. Aronson began his career in the corporate finance department at Drexel, Burnham, Lambert Incorporated.