Jim Squire, Certified Franchise Executive, is Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer at Firestorm, a national franchise company specializing in crisis management, vulnerability analysis/threat assessment, and business continuity. Prior to Firestorm Squire was a senior executive with such well-known brands as the HoneyBaked Ham Company, Great American Cookie Company, and Arby’s.

Passionate about franchising as the “great American dream,” Squire is involved in the following national boards and committees: member and past chairman of the Board of Governors of the Institute of Certified Franchise Executives; member of the Board of Trustees of the International Franchise Association’s Educational Foundation; member of IFA’s Franchisor Forum, Franchise Congress, and the Franchise Relations and Membership Committees; and former member of the IFA Board of Directors. On the local level he serves as chairman of the Board of Directors of the Southeast Franchise Forum.

Squire also maintains a high profile in the foodservice industry as Chairman Emeritus of the Georgia Restaurant Association and member of Georgia State University’s School of Hospitality Industry Advisory Board. He is past president of the restaurant division of the Georgia Hospitality and Travel Association, which presented Squire with the prestigious Chairman’s Award in 2003 and designated him Food Service Industry Leader of the Year in 1990.

Additionally Squire serves as a member of the City of Sandy Springs Board of Appeals and the City Charter Commission, the Rotary Club of Sandy Springs (membership committee chairman), the Atlanta Chapter of the American Institute of Wine and Food (past chairman), and is a former member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Private Industry Councils, the Private Industry Council of Atlanta (past chairman), and the Georgia National Guard, where he served as Assistant Public Information Officer and Aide to the Adjutant General.