PLYMOUTH, Mich. – The former CEO of the AlphaGraphics franchise system, Kevin Cushing, has joined Alliance Franchise Brands as president of its Marketing & Print Division. 

In this role he will oversee all activities related to the development and support of franchise members operating under the Allegra, Insty-Prints, American Speedy Printing, Speedy Printing and Zippy Print brands in the United States and Canada. 

Cushing succeeds Bob Milroy who will remain with the Plymouth, Mich.-based franchisor as Senior Consultant. He will lead the testing and rollout of new growth initiatives designed to assist franchise members with further diversification of their products and service capabilities.

According to Alliance Franchise Brands CEO Mike Marcantonio, “We are delighted to have Kevin on our leadership team. He brings many years’ experience in the franchising industry and has also been a very successful franchise owner of a business model very similar to ours. We’ve known and respected him for a long time as a friendly competitor. I’m certain he will be embraced by our franchise members as well.” 

Cushing was CEO of AlphaGraphics Inc. in Salt Lake City from 2004 to 2012 as well as an owner of two franchise locations in Minnesota that received numerous awards for their achievement. Prior to these roles, Cushing was president of Terratron, Inc., a specialist in restaurant turnarounds in ailing markets (owner of 81 Hardee’s Restaurants in six states). Cushing’s honors include induction into Special Olympics Utah Hall of Fame, Soderstrom Society and Print CEO of the Year. He is a graduate of Saint Mary’s College of Minnesota and The University of Chicago Booth School of Business. 

Marcantonio added, “I am equally excited to have Bob Milroy remain as a key player in the future development of the company. His 40-plus years of experience in the marketing services field is a tremendous asset, allowing him to accelerate our evolution into the growing marketing services space.”

Milroy joined Alliance Franchise Brands as a consultant in 2008 and became Chief Marketing Officer in 2009, an investor in 2010, and assumed the role of President of the Marketing & Print Division in 2011.  He began his career at NCR Corporation where he served as a marketing communications manager. In 1976 he joined Alexander Marketing Services, a full-service business-to-business marketing agency, rising to president in 1985. Under Milroy’s leadership, Alexander Marketing became a perennial Top 50 agency as ranked by B-to-B magazine, serving clients such as Dow Chemical, Siemens, Dover Corporation, Pentair and CSA International. Milroy has been instrumental in the launch of the Alliance Franchise Brands Marketing Resource Center, a home office support organization to enable franchise members to develop and execute marketing programs and projects for their customers.