--- title: "Sylvan Learning’s Chief Franchise Operations Officer on Her 20-Year Journey With the Education Franchise" url: https://burnaze.com/article/cb1e09eb-64b2-46d2-9a0d-307a6338880b source: "1851 Franchise" original_url: https://1851franchise.com/sylvan-learnings-chief-franchise-operations-officer-on-her-20-year-journey-with-the-education-franchise-2714927 category: "Tutoring" industry: "Education & Childcare" segment: "Tutoring" topics: ["Operations"] published: 2021-02-08T21:16:44.000Z modified: 2026-11-01T02:26:05.101Z image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/c1786e8dce8fcffea13f17594d449a2e3929.jpg --- # Sylvan Learning’s Chief Franchise Operations Officer on Her 20-Year Journey With the Education Franchise **TL;DR:** Sylvan Learning's Chief Franchise Operations Officer Susan Valverde discusses the brand's successes and commitment to franchisees, including its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Valverde has spent almost 20 years with the brand and manages franchising operations across its 750 points of presence in North America. *originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2021-02-08. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/sylvan-learnings-chief-franchise-operations-officer-on-her-20-year-journey-with-the-education-franchise-2714927).* ## Key facts - Sylvan Learning has 750 points of presence in North America - Susan Valverde has spent almost 20 years with the brand - Sylvan quickly started offering online tutoring services during the pandemic ## Story Sylvan Learning, the leading supplemental and enrichment education franchise in the U.S., held an online summit where its chief franchise operations officer, Susan Valverde spoke to 1851 Publisher Nick Powills about the brand’s successes in 2020, its continued commitment to helping franchisees deliver the best possible service to their communities, and reasons why franchise prospects should consider joining the Sylvan system, and why now is the time to buy. Valverde explained the nitty-gritty of how the brand supports franchisees. Valverde, who has spent almost 20 years with the brand, manages franchising operations across the 750 points of presence Sylvan Learning has in North America. Valverde bears responsibility for getting the best possible tools and resources to franchisees. One way she does this is through the brand’s national learning centers. In these corporate centers, Valverde’s team pioneers state-of-the-art educational concepts to share with franchisees, but she also listens intently to franchisee input. “That should be the test kitchen for anything we roll out,” said Valverde. “But we also should always have our hand in any operation. It’s important not to be in an oversight role but to really be serving customers and understand the pulse at the centers.” In addition to the corporate centers, where the brand’s proven methods of teaching take shape, Valverde explained the brand’s contact center and field support units are there for franchisees around the clock. Valverde can speak firsthand to the need for support for franchisees, as she started out as one. ## Pandemic response efforts “I was a former franchisee,” she said. “In my time we’ve just been constantly transforming the suite of services. Form virtual to school support, STEM a few years ago, the adaptive curriculum, you name it. Always keeping up with the demands — that sums up what my team loves doing. Making sure we support the centers and that our teams are equipped to deliver the best service no matter what the situation demands, that’s what we do.” On March 13, when the CDC declared the COVID-19 pandemic, everyone’s life changed in an unprecedented way. Among those whose lives became most disrupted were children, and Sylvan was there for them. The first step was to secure the franchises and make sure education would continue even under pandemic conditions. “One of the most important things to all of us was to make sure we do everything we can to support franchise owners. This is their livelihood,” Valverde said. “That involved standing up virtual tutoring over a weekend basically.” Sylvan very quickly started offering online tutoring services during the pandemic. For franchisees, this proved a godsend that allowed them to keep making progress with the students they cared so much about. At Sylvan’s corporate office, Valverde was put to the ultimate test. “We were doing everything that needed to happen in a very accelerated and very stressful emergency mode,” said Valverde. ## Technology and innovation But Sylvan didn’t start from scratch. Sylvan’s years of foresight and innovations in online systems left them well equipped to adapt to the new normal. “For years the company has invested in technology and different tools and resources that really made this possible and made it possible very quickly so that people could migrate from centers as centers were closing and as restrictions were coming down,” she said. This represents the major advantage of franchising. While the hundreds of business owners in the Sylvan system focused on making the best impact in their communities, Valverde and her team had their eyes on the future. Securing the online classes actually proved a key move in sustaining Sylvan and a bridge forward into the future. “I can honestly say they were able to not miss a beat in terms of serving their customers,” Valverde said. “Because frankly, it’s also about that child. This has been a very disruptive year in terms of education and it will take us a while to figure out how to recover from it or what the impact is, let alone recover from it.” Overall, Valverde looks around the franchise system at the end of 2020 and one word comes to mind: pride. The franchisees are still in business offering more innovative services than ever before. Thousands of students across the country are receiving a quality education in a time of scarcity. The Sylvan brand has stayed true to its promise to franchisees and students alike. ## Entities - 1851 Franchise (publication) - Education & Childcare (sector) - franchisee support (topic) - Sylvan Learning (company) - franchise operations (topic) - education franchise (topic) - pandemic response (topic) - Susan Valverde (person) --- Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/sylvan-learnings-chief-franchise-operations-officer-on-her-20-year-journey-with-the-education-franchise-2714927). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/cb1e09eb-64b2-46d2-9a0d-307a6338880b).