Exploring the Data Minefield in Franchising

This week on Franchise Today the focus is on something that seems to be in the news every day - data breaches! With data breaches more than doubling since 2009 to more than 25,000 incidents in 2013 and with 467 of those breaches occurring in the retail sector, franchises have been affected as well. Our guests this week are Tom Epstein, CEO of Franchise Payment Network and Lee Plave, Partner at the law firm, Plave Koch. Both are active IFA members on the Marketing & Technology Committee and are also some of the leading thought-leaders in franchising on today's topic.

About Our Guests

Lee Plave has extensive experience counseling distributors and franchisors, including drafting and negotiating franchise agreements for complex international and domestic transactions and advising clients on all aspects of franchise and distribution law. He also counsels clients on the application of technology to franchise and distribution systems. Lee focuses his attention on matters such as social networking and social media issues, e-commerce, data use and security policies, cybersquatting and domain name disputes, consumer complaint and cybersmear sites, as well as software and hardware licensing. In addition, he represents clients in matters before the Federal Trade Commission.

In addition to his role as CEO of Franchise Payments Network, Tom Epstein continues works with the IFA, serving on Supplier Forum, The Marketing & Technology Committee, FranPac supporter, host of IFA FBN (Franchise Business Network) in Orlando, has been published in all major Franchise Trades as well a sponsor of countless industry events though out the year. FPN works exclusively in the franchise space, utilizing Tom’s extensive knowledge in retail and payment processing to facilitate the unique needs of franchise systems.