#48 Catherine Monson

Propelled Brands – CEO

2022 Rank: #46

Industry Experience: 39 Years

Previous Appearances on Power 50: 4

A longtime franchise advocate and lifelong leader, Catherine Monson drops two spots on this year’s list due to decreased influence as rated by her Power 50 peers and the industry at large. Still, Monson carries tremendous cachet in the business world, especially in franchising that includes her time as the chair of the International Franchise Association. For the last two years, she’s served as CEO for Propelled Brands – the umbrella company of FASTSIGNS (asi/395000), Signwave, NerdsToGo and Suite Management Franchising – and until last year was also CEO and president of FASTSIGNS. Andrea Hohermuth took over as FASTSIGNS president late last year, leaving Monson the room to focus on acquisitions and growing Propelled Brands. Across its portfolio, Propelled Brands operates more than 1,000 locations across eight countries – and last year, FASTSIGNS saw record-breaking growth, surpassing for the first time the $700 million mark in network sales.