Meet the Chem-Dry Franchising Team

As a member of the HRI family of franchise brands, Chem-Dry benefits from the parent company’s proven track record of building category-leading franchise systems within residential and commercial services industries. HRI’s infrastructure and expertise in areas including research & development/innovation, marketing, training and coaching have allowed the company to grow franchise brands Chem-Dry® Carpet and Upholstery Cleaning (3,000 units across over 50 countries) and N-Hance® Wood Refinishing (more than 500 locations globally) into market leaders. And it’s in the process of doing the same thing with Delta Disaster Services, the award-winning property restoration franchise system that has carved out several core competitive advantages within the restoration industry.

Marketing and Executive

Dan Tarantin, President and CEO
Dan, named president and CEO by Harris Research Inc.’s Board of Directors in November 2011, has extensive experience helping services companies grow and succeed, both as an investor and an operator. Previously, he served as President and CEO of Jackson Hewitt Tax Service and has been involved with a number of other home services and franchise businesses, including Century 21 and Coldwell Banker.

Bill Zinke, Senior Vice President of Marketing
Bill has over 20 years of marketing experience, including time spent building the brands and expanding the networks of several other franchised concepts. He teaches franchisees how to acquire new customers and generate repeat business, and also helps build national brand awareness and consumer demand through public relations and management of Chem-Dry’s website, social networks and online marketing efforts.

Franchise Development

Douglas Smith, Senior Vice President of Franchise Development
Doug comes to HRI most recently from the Affinion Group, where he was Senior Vice President of Business Development in their Financial Services division. He started his career with Perk Development Corporation, who at the time was the largest franchisee of Perkins Family Restaurants, as well as both Chilis and Bobby Rubinos locations throughout the Northeast. He relocated to Atlanta, Georgia, where he went to work for The Cheesecake Factory Corporation. Following that, he worked at Edward Don and Company, working closely with several corporate, independent and franchise restaurant operations throughout the Southeast.

Chelsey Sanders, Franchise Development Director
Chelsey has been with Chem-Dry since 2004. As franchise development director, she is responsible for qualifying, educating, and engaging potential Chem-Dry franchisees; working with new Chem-Dry leads; and identifying existing franchisees in a position to expand their footprint. Chelsey also manages our referral program and all communications concerning brand expansion and growth. Over the last four years, she has recruited more 275 franchisees to Chem-Dry and its sister company.

Alex Sabbagh, Franchise Development Director
Alex Sabbagh was born in Miami, FL, raised in Colombia where many of his relatives still reside, and returned to the U.S. in 2000. He received his Bachelor of Science in Management and Associates of Arts in Business. Before moving to his current town of Atlanta a few years ago, Alex lived in Charlotte, NC and again in Miami, FL where he married his wife Nicole. Alex and Nicole live in Atlanta, GA with their 2 children.
Alex’s bi-cultural background and passion for sales have helped him grow in business development and most recently lead Franchise Sales efforts for a well-known commercial cleaning company, managing the NY & NJ region, signing over 75 franchises in 2016 and putting his region in the #1 position nationally.

Aaron Harper, Franchise Development Director
Aaron grew up surfing and playing sports in Newport Beach, California. He attended the University of California Santa Barbara, where he graduated with honors with a bachelors degree in Communication and Film Studies. After college, Aaron moved to Los Angeles to work in Talent Management for some of the biggest actors, writers and directors in film and television. Aaron decided to pursue a career in corporate sales and move out to Tennessee for a job with AT&T. He was later offered the opportunity to join the Chem-Dry family doing business development for North America. Aaron brings a passion for helping new franchise owners succeed and achieve their goals!

Training and Support

Ed Quinlan, Senior Vice President of Franchise Services
Ed oversees business support services for Chem-Dry’s franchisees, including training and business coaching programs designed to improve performance and the implementation of software improvements designed to make business easier and more profitable.

Jotham Hatch, Vice President of Training and Development
Jotham joined the team as an Instructional Designer in 2003 and has focused on training solutions ever since. Jotham is critical to our franchisees’ success, using a wide variety of blended learning approaches ranging from on-line, face-to-face, hands-on, and text-based methods.