James F. Exum, Jr.

PRESIDENT
Chief Executive Officer

Fred Exum was named president and chief executive officer of The Krystal Company in August, 2003, following six years as president and chief operating officer.  He is only the sixth chief executive officer in the 77-year history of the company.

During his tenure as chief operating officer. Mr. Exum was responsible for a number of innovations that boosted restaurant efficiency, expanded product offerings, and offered franchisees a selection of modern restaurant designs.

Under his direction, the company launched several new products including the Krystal Chik and breakfast Scrambler, and developed two prototype restaurant designs (KP-2000, SB-31) to maximize use of store real estate and interior working and dining space.

Prior to joining The Krystal Company, Mr. Exum built a successful career as a franchisee for more than 20 years.  Most recently, Mr. Exum was founder and chief executive officer of Pennant Foods Corporation, a Knoxville, Tenn. – based company that own and operated 88 Wendy's restaurants.  During his tenure at Pennant Foods, Mr. Exum formed several regional franchise groups, including Southeast Food Service Corp., and Coastline Food Services Corp.

He began his career in the Wendy's management training program, and then joined, respectively, Tenent Enterprises Inc. and American Restaurant Corp. systems.

Mr. Exum serves on the national board of trustees of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the largest interdenominational, school-based Christian sports organization in America.  He is also chairman of the Advisory Board of the University of Tennessee's School of Consumer Services Management, which helps develop students that are interested in pursuing management careers in the service industry

Mr. Exum and his wife Karen have two children and live in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Michael C. Bass

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT
Administration

Mike Bass is responsible for all activities related to purchasing, company restaurant operations, franchise division, training, quality assurance, and the implementation of innovative research and development programs.  He is also responsible for systematically improving restaurant operations and spearheads the company's new product development efforts.

Since joining the company in 1979, Mr. Bass has served as director of purchasing and director of administration.  Prior to joining The Krystal Company, Mr. Bass spent 10 years with the Marriott Corporation in the corporate finance and airline catering divisions.

Mr. Bass holds a bachelor's of science degree in accounting from Huntington College in Montgomery, Ala.  He currently resides in Ooltewah, Tenn., with his wife and two children.

James W. Bear

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT
Chief Financial Officer

Jim Bear is senior vice president and chief financial officer for The Krystal Company.  Mr. Bear is responsible for overseeing all activities related to finance, information technology, accounting and risk management, as well as investor relations.

Joining The Krystal Company in early 2006. Mr. Bear brings more than 35 years of financial, accounting, and senior management experience to his position.  Mr. Bear previously served as senior vice president and chief financial officer for The Steak and Shake Company, where he was instrumental in the publicly traded company's growth from 100 locations to more than 400 locations.  Mr. Bear's responsibilities during his more than 25 years with Steak n Shake included finance and planning, accounting and information technology, administration, investor relations, purchasing and distribution, and construction.

Mr. Bear holds a degree in accounting from Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa and graduated from the executive management program at Indiana University.

Alan R. Wright

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT
Administration

Alan Wright is Executive Vice President of Administration for The Krystal Company and is responsible for the franchise division, human resources/benefits and marketing.

In September 2001, Mr. Wright joined Krystal as its Director of Field Marketing and served in the capacity for two years before being appointed Director of Franchise Marketing. During that time, he successfully rolled out Krystal franchise marketing cooperatives throughout the Krystal operating system to improve franchise communications. In October of 2007, Mr. Wright was promoted to the position of Vice President of the Franchise Division for Krystal, where he oversaw franchise operations, development and support. Two years later, Mr. Wright received his third promotion with The Krystal Company and assumed his current title.

Prior to his Krystal employment, Mr. Wright was employed by Olan Mills Portrait Studios in Chattanooga for four years as Vice President of Marketing. Mr. Wright's more than 20 years experience with quick service restaurants began in 1981 while working with a regional advertising agency in Indianapolis whose clients included McDonald's. As a corporate marketing director with Hardees Food Systems, Inc. from 1983-1989 in Rocky Mount, N.C., Wright was responsible for highly successful California Raisin breakfast promotion in 1987. Hardee's grew from 1400 restaurants to 3500 restaurants during his employment. Mr. Wright left Hardee's to join Rent-A-Center, Inc. in Wichita, Kan. for seven years as its Director of Marketing.

Mr. Wright earned a bachelor's degree in marketing from Ball State University.  He and his wife, Marilyn, and their three sons live in Chattanooga.

Howard A. Nelson

VICE PRESIDENT
Company Operations

Howard Nelson is director of operations for The Krystal Company.  In this position, he is responsible for overseeing all restaurant operations for Krystal's 237 company-owned locations, as well as 147 franchise locations

Mr. Nelson has over 30 years experience in the restaurant business, including many years as a franchise owner for both Wendy's and Panera Bread.

Prior to joining The Krystal Company, Mr. Nelson worked with Hooked on Dough as president/operations partner, DI-NEL CORPORATION as president/franchise owner, Wensouth Corporation as vice president and Wendy's International as franchise field consultant.

Mr. Nelson attended Kent State University, majoring in Biology. He currently resides in Chattanooga with his wife Mary, and sons, Howie and Samuel.

Bob Marshall

VICE PRESIDENT
Development

Bob Marshall is the Vice President of Development for The Krystal Company. Mr. Marshall is responsible for the development of new Krystal restaurant locations including site selection and acquisition as well as overseeing construction and property management.
 
Prior to joining The Krystal Company, Mr. Marshall served as president of the Livingston Company, a private merchant bank that provides growth capital to small and middle market companies in the southeastern United States. He also spent eight years at Chattem, Inc. where he served as the Vice President of Marketing and managed a $300 million portfolio of consumer health and beauty aid brands.  Marshall started his career at The Procter & Gamble Company where he held a variety of positions in finance, accounting and marketing.
 
Mr. Marshall is a graduate of the University of Tennessee and holds a Masters of Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He currently resides on Signal Mountain with his wife Lea Ann and their four children.

Gloria Daniels

VICE PRESIDENT
Purchasing

Gloria Daniels is the Vice President of Purchasing and Quality Assurance for The Krystal Company.  Ms. Daniels is responsible for all food and paper purchases, negotiating contracts with vendors and managing the restaurant distribution program for 400+ company and franchised Krystal locations throughout the Southeast and Texas.  She is also responsible for the overseeing of all quality assurance aspects for the company.

Ms. Daniels' has more than 35 years experience working for The Krystal Company.  She began her career in the purchasing department as an hourly employee and has since progressed to oversee al functions of that department.  Under her direction, Ms. Daniels' has helped the company maintain its goal of providing high quality products while ensuring purchasing budgets contribute to bottom line growth.

David R. Reid

VICE PRESIDENT
Chief Information Officer

David Reid is Vice President and Chief Information Officer for The Krystal Company.  Mr. Reid is responsible for managing and developing the company's internet technology department which includes overseeing all aspects of Krystals in- and above-restaurant information systems and services, including software services and support. Network infrastructure, elecom, Internet connectivity and wireless technology.

Since joining the company, Mr. Reid has been instrumental in the development and rollout of a turnkey, state-of-the-art-in-restaurant system to all company restaurants, as well as many of Krystal's franchised operations.  In addition, it has been Mr. Reid's vision and leadership that has helped Krystal become a technology pioneer in the QSR industry as the company became the first to offer free Internet WiFi HotSpots at all company-owned locations in 2005.

Prior to joining The Krystal Company in 2000, Reid was Director of Information Technology for Fazoli's restaurants and, prior to that, served in the same position at Checker's Drive-In Restaurants.  Before joining the restaurant industry, Mr. Reid served as Vice President of (Research and Development) for Kinetic Presentations, a computer graphics company in Louisville, Ky.  He also worked for The Cobb Group where he served as Senior Author and the Editor in Chief for several publications, including Inside AutoCAD, Inside Solaris, and Inside Microsoft Visual C++.

Mr. Reid earned a bachelor's degree in computer science and engineering math from the University of Louisville.  Mr. Reid currently lives in Chattanooga, Tenn. with his wife Kim and their two children.

Brad Wahl

VICE PRESIDENT
Marketing

Brad Wahl is the Vice President of Marketing for The Krystal Company. Mr. Wahl is responsible for managing all strategies, tactics, and programs related to the company's marketing and branding efforts, including all in-store and company-wide advertising, online marketing strategies, branded events, and public relations campaigns.

Joining The Krystal Company in early 2002, Mr. Wahl first worked as a regional field marketing manager prior to assuming the position of manager of marketing and promotions for the company. In early 2006, Mr. Wahl became the director of brand marketing, where he spearheaded some of the company's most notable and recognizable branding campaigns including Krystal's popular reality-based television commercials and the internationally sanctioned Krystal Square Off World Hamburger Eating Championship.

A collegiate athlete, Mr. Wahl played basketball at the University of Kansas and received his Bachelor of Science from Wichita State University.