The team
Operator partners, not just capital partners. Between us: more than fifty years of running franchise systems from the inside, and the capital and transaction experience to invest in them properly. We each have things we are involved in. Together we are Strata Brands.
Steve Kwon
Partner
Steve Kwon is a seasoned franchise executive and entrepreneur with more than 32 years of experience building, scaling, and optimizing franchise organizations. Throughout his career, he has recruited more than 4,200 franchisees across 23 brands and helped drive international expansion across 16 countries.
Steve’s expertise extends well beyond franchise development, encompassing operations, strategic growth, unit economics, organizational infrastructure, franchisee performance, and brand scalability. He has held senior leadership roles with nationally recognized brands including Amada Senior Care, Mathnasium, Budget Blinds, Interim HealthCare/Caring Brands International, and Strategic Franchising.
His career has been centered on creating enterprise value—building stronger operating platforms, accelerating sustainable growth, developing successful franchise partners, and helping transform brands into larger, more valuable organizations.
Marcos Moura
Partner
Marcos has worked every seat in franchising — franchisee, franchisor, consultant and vendor. His family owned a Blimpie Subs franchise in the 1990s, so he knows what it is to put a family’s life savings into a business and a system. As a franchisor he has grown retail, restaurant, healthcare and other service brands.
Marcos is Co-Owner and Chief Development Officer of Amada Senior Care, a national senior-care franchise system of 300+ locations. He is also a board member and owner of Majestic Residences, a residential assisted-living franchise. He holds an MBA from USC.
He speaks frequently at industry conferences, and shares the failures as readily as the successes. If the industry as a whole gets better, he believes, it builds stronger systems and more successful franchisees.
Preston Phillips
Partner
Preston has spent his career investing in and building companies alongside the people who run them. He started in investment banking at Credit Suisse, moved into private equity at Freeman Spogli, and spent more than six years at Peterson Partners. He and Jordan met as undergraduates at Brigham Young University and have shared an investment philosophy for more than a decade.
Jordan Lusk
Partner
Jordan began his career as an investment banking analyst at Morgan Stanley before moving into private equity at Peterson Partners, where he and Preston worked together for more than six years. His focus is sourcing and diligence — finding the businesses worth owning and pressure-testing them before anyone writes a check.
Between us
Years in franchising.
Locations awarded.
Locations awarded in the past year alone.
Brands we helped grow, across 16 countries.
Why a founder talks to us first
Most investors looking at your brand have never sold a franchise, never sat in a discovery day, and never had to call a franchisee who is struggling. They will underwrite your royalty stream carefully and then ask you how development works.
We have done the job. It means the diligence conversation is faster, the questions are better, and what we tell you about how the brand will be run after closing is something we have done before.