In January, WhatTheyThink reported on initial reaction to the acquisition of franchisor AlphaGraphics by Blackstreet Capital in an interview with then-CEO Kevin Cushing as well as his unexpected departure from the company. Now Interim President Art Coley, whose appointment was announced February 6^th, speaks out about his take on the acquisition, the reaction by franchisees to January’s events, and where he sees the company going in the future.

WTT: Now that the dust has settled a little on the events of January, can you share your perspective on those events? In particular, how have the franchisees reacted? Early reactions to Cushing’s departure, at least on the part of the franchisees I spoke to, was shock and dismay.

AC: There was certainly some criticism within the network about the way the communications were handled, but the mood has settled a bit. As connected as we are today, it has been eye-opening to see the flow and pulse of the network move over the past couple of weeks. There has been a great deal of uncertainty in the network over the past 12 to 18 months, starting from Andrew Pindar’s keynote at our July 2010 conference in Tucson, where he told the group that Pindar had lost something in the range of $10 million. Then one year later, in July of 2011, you have the news of the Pindar bankruptcy, and AlphaGraphics being taken over by the UK courts and administered by KPMG. That was pretty big news and caused even more uncertainty and doubt. The reactions over the events in January have been more muted, especially as franchisees realize that the uncertainty, especially relative to any financial instability, has ended.