Executive Team

Jerry Bell, CEO

Jerry Bell has a long and distinguished career in the Franchising industry. Jerry spent 15 years with various divisions of The Coca-Cola Company in a variety of marketing, business development and general management roles including service as an International Division Vice President. He has also served as President of the Far East for The Campbell Soup Company. He later spent 7 years at AFC Enterprises, a publicly-traded Franchisor, serving as a Division Chief Operating Officer. While at AFC, he oversaw the creation of the International Divisions of 2 separate franchise companies, Cinnabon™ and Seattle's Best Coffee™, which he subsequently merged and grew from 30 to 400 franchised units in 40 countries with over $100 million in system revenues.

Jerry joined ZeeWise in 2005 as a Senior Advisor and member of the Board of Directors and was later appointed CEO in 2006. He has been associated with the franchise community for over 30 years and is an active member of the International Franchise Association (IFA), where he has served as a business roundtable chair, and the Southeast Franchise Forum (SEFF).  Jerry received his Bachelor of Science degree in Management from The Georgia Institute of Technology and an MBA from Harvard University.

Tristan Davis, Senior Director of Account Management

Tristan joined ZeeWise in 2009 to focus on our growing list of customers. Tristan brings to ZeeWise his 7 years of experience in account management where he developed interactive marketing campaigns for companies such as American Express, FedEx, Cirque Du Soleil and Busch Entertainment. He served as Director of Operations for Event Seek, an Atlanta-based technology start-up, where he oversaw all aspects of product development.

Tristan graduated with honors from the University of Virginia with a focus in Media Studies and Production.

Russ Gagnon, VP of Business Development

Russell Gagnon is the Vice President of Business Development at ZeeWise, responsible for developing new customer relationships and engagements, while supporting Account Management and project delivery. His franchise experience includes product design and development, business analysis and consulting, with a specialization in business intelligence products and analytics. He has worked with brand-new franchises looking for a strong start as well as 1000+ unit multi-brand organizations looking to streamline operations, drive revenue, and expand globally. He specializes in working with the franchise industry in merging business processes with software developed specifically for the franchise community.

Russ holds an Aerospace Engineering degree from Georgia Tech, and has also worked as a Software Engineer with the Department of Defense developing simulation software for tactical infantry missile technology that is currently deployed around the world.

Board of Directors

Clark Gilder - Chairman and CTO

Clark Gilder is an innovative technology entrepreneur and angel investor with extensive software industry experience who brings keen insight and creative thinking in applying technology to modern business problems in established or new markets. During the 12 years he spent at Microsoft in Redmond, WA, he delivered impressive results in various management and operating roles including World-wide Technology Evangelist as well as a Lead Program Manager on the Microsoft Windows development team where he contributed to the design, development and shipping of Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. His notable accomplishments at Microsoft include being one of the rare 2 time winners of the Microsoft Windows Division 'Gold Star" award and being one of the very first Microsoft Certified System Engineers in the world.

Clark was an early adopter of PC technology at the birth of the industry. He joined the software industry full-time after graduating from The Georgia Institute of Technology with a degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering, with a focus in Operations Research.  His first software project was a logistics scheduling tool developed under Windows 1.0 for CAPS Logistics, later acquired by ERP giant Baan Software, now part of SSA Global.  Clark then co-founded Touch & Go Systems where he created the first Windows based touch screen Point of Sale (POS) system, eventually merging it with Compris Technologies, now part of NCR.  In 1990, Clark joined Compaq Computer Corporation where he developed the first version of what became their dynamic manufacturing process control system.  Clark left Compaq to join Microsoft in 1991 where he worked in a variety of world-wide roles until 2003 when he moved from Seattle back to Atlanta.  Since 2004, he has focused on coaching, advising, and investing in startup technology companies, including leading the angel round investment made by the Atlanta Technology Angels (ATA) in ZeeWise.  Clark is also founder and CEO of GSF  - an innovative banking and electronic payments technology company with several issued patents covering the "paperless check" or Electronic Payment Order (EPO). 
Read more about Clark's career and contact him

Chris Hutchings

Chris is co-founder and President of InfoLux Inc., a consulting firm based in Atlanta, Georgia that specializes in the design and delivery of Whole Brain Visual Dashboards™ that help business operators rapidly understand and extract value from their company's information.

Chris has over 30 years of relevant business experience in consumer products, financial services, and software startups. His areas of expertise include finance, operations, corporate oversight, and the reporting of results of operations to management. His experiences have included assignments in Africa, Europe and the USA with a Fortune 100 soft drinks beverage manufacturer and one of the international "Big Four" audit firms. His responsibilities as CFO of the Beverage company's largest US and European operating divisions provided him extensive experience and insight into the information management needs to make fact based business decisions.

After leaving the beverage industry Chris has been involved in the start up and support of several software companies and currently serves on the Board of Directors of ZeeWise Inc, a Georgia based software company that produces software for the franchise industry. He formerly served on the board of directors of Integrasoft, software services firm headquartered in Atlanta, from 2003 -2007, and as Chairman of Fakawi Investments, a private investment group in Atlanta, Georgia from 1994 - 2004. He is a past Chairman of the Atlanta International School's Investment Committee, and also served on the School's Finance Committee and the Board of Trustees from 1998 - 2007.

His recent experience in software startups have provided him exposure to emerging technologies that can provide innovative, cost effective solutions for the rapid extraction of information for management decision making. Chris is a devotee of the principles of continuous learning and improvement, and is a strong believer that with the right leadership and the right tools, "ordinary people can achieve extraordinary results".
Read more about Chris' career

Sterling Wharton

As an outside director on our board, Sterling Wharton's background and experience provides valuable insight in guiding the discussions on the future course of ZeeWise. Sterling is an innovative entrepreneur who brings extensive knowledge and experience having been a CEO at 3 venture capital backed technology firms. Over his 30 year career, he has held key leadership roles in the technology sales, operations and executive management at both major telecom technology companies as well as startup software companies. Most recently, Sterling joined the staff of the Atlanta Technology Development Center (ATDC) as an Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) where he was introduced to ZeeWise back in 2006.
Read about the ATDC

Read more about Sterling's career

Josh Hix

Josh was a co-founder of ZeeWise who's background includes a significant and varied software IT infrastructure experience. Having managed projects ranging from single location businesses to global enterprise implementations, he brings a unique perspective on the technology needs of businesses of all sizes. In addition, having worked with a number of small and startup businesses from varied industries, he is familiar with the role of technology and software used in the business processes of a franchise organization. Josh holds a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech and recently graduated with an MBA from the Harvard Business School.  Josh is now working on Wall St with Private Equity firms.