RevOps Champions

Chantel Soumis, Head of Marketing and Partnerships at Franchise Empire, joins host Brendon Dennewill to challenge how brands are approaching AI, customer engagement, and content strategy in 2026. With two decades of experience as a fractional CMO and franchise marketing leader, Chantel makes the case for human-first marketing, a structured listening tour approach, and a deliberate "anti-AI po...

Sally Facinelli, growth strategist and franchise advisor with nearly 30 years in the industry, joins Brendon Dennewill to challenge the instinct to scale fast and instead make the case for intentional, systems-driven growth. From leadership transitions and organizational clarity to real-time data visibility and the accelerating impact of AI on franchise operations, Sally brings a practitioner&apos...

Brian Schnell, Partner and Chair of the Franchise Practice at Faegre Drinker, brings nearly four decades of franchise law, operations, and executive leadership to one of franchising's most persistent tensions: the breakdown between franchisors and franchisees. In this conversation with host Brendon Dennewill, Brian challenges the command-and-control model still used by too many brands and mak...

Casey Cease, Founder of scalingbusiness.ai, joins host Brendon Dennewill to challenge the most common mistake leaders make when scaling with AI: reaching for tactics before they have a strategy. Drawing on decades of experience across branding, publishing, franchising, and emerging technology, Casey breaks down why operational complexity, people systems, and decision-making clarity must come befor...

Michael Iannuzzi, Partner and Franchise Practice Leader at Citrin Cooperman, joins host Brendon Dennewill to unpack the financial and operational fault lines that quietly derail growing franchise systems. From the tension between top-line and bottom-line incentives to the infamous "100-unit ceiling," Michael brings a practitioner's lens to unit economics, royalty self-sufficiency, a...

Kary Oberbrunner, Founder of Instant IP and Wall Street Journal bestselling author, joins Brendon Dennewill to challenge everything founders think they know about intellectual property. As AI accelerates IP theft across every industry, from musicians to franchise brands to solo entrepreneurs, Kary makes the case that protecting your ideas isn't a legal formality, it's a revenue strategy....

Charles Chang, Founder of Unified Technologies Group (UTG), joins Brendon Dennewill to challenge the way most organizations think about growth, arguing that the real bottleneck is never technology, it's the absence of documented processes, operational leadership, and a culture of prevention. Drawing on his experience in healthcare IT and multi-company ownership, Charles shares how his team is...

Dave Sanderson, the last passenger off US Airways Flight 1549, known as the Miracle on the Hudson, brings 37 years of sales leadership and hard-earned crisis experience to a conversation with Brendon Dennewill about what it actually takes to build resilient teams and make decisions under pressure. From the ASSESS Framework and the A-to-I Affinity Model to the VCR leadership structure developed wit...

Marcus Sheridan, author of They Ask You Answer, a partner at IMPACT and the co-founder of several forward-thinking tech and consulting companies, including PriceGuide, AI Trust Signals, and Question First Group, joins Brendon Dennewill to challenge why B2B companies still refuse to talk about pricing, even when the data is overwhelming. Marcus breaks down how AI-powered agents are about to reshape...

Aicha Bascaro, CEO and Founder of the American Franchise Academy, joins host Brendon Dennewill to challenge the assumption that a successful single-unit operator is ready to scale. Drawing on 35+ years across Domino's, Popeyes, and Olive Garden, Aicha breaks down the four business systems every franchisee must build before adding a second location, and why skipping them creates what she calls...

Ingrid Schneider, Founder and CEO of Stay In Your Lane and Train In Your Lane, joins Brendon Dennewill to challenge how franchise brands approach AI adoption, brand identity, and scaling past the critical 30-unit ceiling. Drawing from years of fractional C-suite work across franchise and multi-location systems, Ingrid unpacks why companies that skip education and jump straight to implementation al...

Brady Carlsen didn't set out to build one of the fastest-growing franchise brands in the country, he walked in as a customer and spotted what insiders couldn't see. As Co-Founder and COO of The Back Nine Golf, Brady shares how a deliberate "less is more" philosophy, no food, no staff, no complexity, became the engine behind 160+ locations and 300 in the pipeline. For franchise...

John Francis, "Johnny Franchise", has seen franchising from every angle: franchisee, franchisor, multi-unit owner, and now strategic advisor to over 50 brands. In this conversation with Brendon Dennewill, John cuts through the AI excitement with two questions every franchisor board should be asking, and most aren't. What you'll hear isn't just about technology. It's a...

Rob Wormley, Founder of WG and Groundcrew Partners, joins Brendon Dennewill to expose the gap most companies never talk about, the distance between a polished positioning strategy and actual revenue execution. Whether you're running a SaaS startup or a home services franchise, the problem is the same: great frameworks gathering dust in Google Drive while pipeline stalls. Rob shares how he hel...

Ryan Gunn, Founder & Chief Education Officer of Attribution Academy, joins host Brendon Dennewill to unpack why most companies are still getting attribution wrong, and what to do about it. They cover the real roots of sales and marketing misalignment, why chasing MQLs can work against your goals, and how to build an attribution system that drives better decisions instead of interdepartmental c...

Steve Maule, Vice President of Global Sales at Acclaro, joins host Brendon Dennewill to explore what happens to revenue teams when growth accelerates, and why clarity and communication are the difference between scaling successfully and exposing misalignment. With over 14 years in the localization and language services industry and a track record that includes onboarding brands like Spotify, IKEA,...

In this episode of RevOps Champions, Strategic Coach partner Shannon Waller shares deep insights into alignment, growth, and long-term team success. She explains why values and vision are the make-or-break factors for scaling, the difference between entrepreneurial and corporate mindsets, and how leaders can foster growth and unique ability. The conversation covers growth mindset, AI in the result...

In this episode of RevOps Champions, host Brendon Dennewill sits down with Rob Triggs, founder of RTR and creator of the CALM Sales Program, to share his journey and unpack what it really takes to scale revenue and build predictable, high-performing engines without chaos. Rob details his unconventional path, from Xerox service technician to top-performing sales leader, which fundamentally shaped h...

In this episode of RevOps Champions, host Brendon Dennewill talks with Hayden Stafford, President and Chief Revenue Officer at Seismic. Drawing on 25+years leading go-to market teams at Microsoft, Salesforce, IBM, and Pegasystems, Hayden explains why modern growth depends on a "well-plumbed" revenue system, where sales, success, support, partners, and service operate as one connected eng...

In this episode of RevOps Champions, host Brendon Dennewill talks with Jennifer Zick, CEO of Authentic and creator of the Authentic Growth Marketing Operating System. With 25+ years in B2B marketing across startups, PE-backed companies, and global organizations, Jennifer unpacks the predictable pattern she’s seen as companies scale: founder-led, sales-driven growth eventually leaves behind a trail...

In this episode of RevOps Champions , host Brendon Dennewill sits down with Peter Fuller, Founder of Workflow Academy and a leading expert in revenue operations, CRM systems, and workflow automation. Peter shares his unconventional path from studying Russian literature to building a RevOps consultancy and training ecosystem, and why the “human” side of RevOps will only become more important as AI...

In this episode of the RevOps Champions Podcast , host Brendon Dennewill is joined by Max Emma, Entrepreneur, Certified Franchise Executive, CEO of BooXkeeping , and Founder of Main Entrance . Max shares the behind-the-scenes realities of scaling a service business into a franchise: why delegation is the first step, how financial visibility becomes a leadership advantage , and what has to be true...

In this episode of the RevOps Champions Podcast , host Brendon Dennewill sits down with Scott Thompson, a 23-year veteran of the franchise industry and Founder & CEO of Your Future Franchise. Scott shares his unconventional journey from first-time franchisee to executive leader across private equity-backed franchise brands, offering a rare inside look at what actually drives sustainable franch...

In this episode of the RevOps Champions Podcast, host Brendon Dennewill is joined by Braxton Kilgo, founder of I Believe In You (IBIY), a kindness-driven movement and purpose-led brand built to help people and organizations lead with belief before strategy. Braxton shares how his background running a high-performance B2B lead generation system shaped the way he now scales IBIY by blending belief-d...

In this episode, host Brendon Dennewill sits down with Bill Wilson, Founder and CEO of Pace Pricing and three-time software entrepreneur with over 20 years building and scaling SaaS companies. Bill shares how he evolved from software developer to pricing strategist after recognizing the deep anxiety founders face around pricing decisions. Through his work guiding hundreds of SaaS teams, he's...