Abrakadoodle President Honored with Crystal Compass Award

Feb. 14, 2012 - PRLog -- Rosemarie Hartnett, Certified Franchise Executive, co-founder and President of Abrakadoodle Remarkable Art Education, was honored Saturday, February 11, 2012 for her outstanding leadership skills during the 52nd Annual Franchise Convention presented by the International Franchise Association’s Women’s Franchise Committee.

Hartnett received the Crystal Compass award, which is given to one person in the franchise sector, who epitomizes the ideals of leadership. Recipients of the award have earned reputations for leadership by making significant contributions within their respective franchise organizations, the franchising community in general and in their local communities.

“I am truly honored to receive the Crystal Compass and to be included in a group of outstanding women recognized as leaders in franchising,” Ms. Hartnett said. “Franchising provides a wonderful model that can empower women entrepreneurship and leadership. It is organizations like the International Franchise Association and the Women’s Franchise Committee that offer an invaluable training ground for women to learn the leadership skills necessary to build great franchise companies.”

Rosemarie Hartnett is Co-Founder and President of Abrakadoodle Inc., currently the largest U.S. based franchisor in children’s art educational services.  Ms. Hartnett oversees all Abrakadoodle’s operations, franchise support, sales, growth initiatives and training services worldwide.  In response to stagnant domestic franchise sales despite increases in numbers of students and programs since 2008, Ms. Hartnett expanded to Asia, which has opened new markets for Abrakadoodle. Rolling out this strategy has entailed drastic changes to the company’s business model in addition to multiple trips to the Far East, where Hartnett and her business partner Mary Rogers have helped launch new locations and have met with parents anxious to learn about the importance of creativity in education. This strategy resulted in an increase in system-wide revenues from $3 to $5 million and an increase in the number of franchises from 50 to 79.

Hartnett has devoted her professional life to building successful education programs for children through franchising. She is a member of the ICFE Board of Governors for the International Franchise Association and is a well known advocate for women in franchising.  She is Co-Chair of the Women’s Franchise Network in the Washington, D.C., Maryland and northern VA area and served as Chair of the International Franchise Association’s Women’s Franchise Committee’s Mentoring Task Force for Women. As a Certified Franchise Executive, Ms. Hartnett has spoken on franchising worldwide, including seminars and workshops through the International Franchise Association, the Capitol Area Franchise Association, of which she served as President and at universities and franchise seminars worldwide.

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Abrakadoodle is an internationally recognized company that provides a wide array of creative art classes, camps, birthday parties and face painting events for children ages 20 months to 12 years old at schools and community sites.