
Franco, a Detroit-based integrated communications agency, has completed an ownership transition from former Chairman Dan Ponder to CEO Tina Kozak. As a result, Kozak is now majority shareholder and owner of the company.
COO and President Tina Sullivan and Senior Vice President Nikki Little remain minority shareholders in the business. With the transition, Franco, which is marking its 60th anniversary this year, now is a 100 percent women-owned business.
Over the past 17 years, Kozak has served as Franco’s vice president, senior vice president, executive vice president and COO, president, and in 2021 was named Franco’s first female CEO.
She began investing in Franco in 2013 as an opportunity to combine her passion for Detroit with her industry experience and entrepreneurial mindset. Over the next 10 years, Kozak helped transform Franco into an agency built for the future, a model that honored the company’s deep public relations roots and incorporated social media, digital advertising, creative services, and more, culminating with Franco rebranding to an integrated communications agency in 2021.
“It’s no easy task to keep a company in business for 60 years, and it’s Franco’s culture of collaboration and forward thinking that’s contributed to our ongoing success,” Kozak says. “Dan Ponder understood my vision for Franco and supported me all along the way, from bringing on Tina Sullivan to strengthen our automotive practice to adding Nikki Little to help us further integrate our services. I’m honored to play a role in the firm’s history and lead alongside Tina and Nikki to be the best possible employer for our team and partner for our clients.”
In 2023, Kozak, Sullivan, and Little took Franco surpassed revenue goals that topped $4.9 million, the highest in the company’s history. In O’Dwyer’s 2023 annual ranking, Franco ranked as one of the top Michigan agencies in nine industries.
“Tina, Tina, and Nikki have demonstrated their leadership in so many ways,” Ponder says. “They’ve designed and carried out a five-year vision despite unforeseen obstacles like a global pandemic, redefined and role-modeled our values and most importantly, built the absolute best team to ensure Franco’s future. I have the utmost faith in the three of them to continue leading Franco into the future.”
Ponder will serve in a chairman emeritus role through 2025. He will remain active in the community on several boards and do select consulting with small business entrepreneurs.
Franco was founded in 1964 by Anthony M. Franco who served as chairman and CEO until he retired in 1993. Three years earlier, he sold a controlling interest in the firm to local advertising agency Ross Roy. The firm was bought back by management after Franco’s retirement. He died of cancer in 2002 at the age of 69.
The agency’s integrated programs include a wide range of PR, marketing, digital, and creative services. It serves organizations in the health care, consumer, nonprofit, professional services, automotive, and technology industries.
For more information, visit franco.com.