Meet the Board
Dedication. Expertise. Passion.
Kevin Lent
SSFA President
klent@bex.net
Kevin Lent was born and raised in Toledo, Ohio. Lent graduated from St. John’s Jesuit High School and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications from the University of Toledo. He has earned several brand honors, including Franchisee of the Year, S’Agapo, Phone-a-Friend and multiple Occupancy awards. Lent lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with his wife, Catherine, and three stepdaughters. His son, Hunter, is a graduate of Ohio State University; a student at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business and lives in Columbus, Ohio; and his daughter, Sydney, is a nursing student at the University of Toledo. Kevin was also acknowledged as Franchisee of the Year and won as a team in 2017.
David Vecera
SSFA Vice President
c56spd@new.rr.com
David Vecera is co-owner and managing partner, along with his wife, Gina, of four successful Sola locations in the western suburbs of the Milwaukee, Wisconsin, market. Vecera is involved in nearly every facet of the day-to-day operations in addition to site selection, lease negotiations, financing, design, construction and future expansion planning. The Veceras’ first location includes a custom-designed 500-plus-square-foot educational/creative space where they regularly showcase their commitment to their professionals by providing creative as well as business/self-improvement educational opportunities. David and Gina live in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, and have three children. Their sons Anthony and Evan both graduated from Creighton’s Heider School of Business, and their daughter Mattea is attending Newhouse Journalism School at Syracuse in the Fall.
David Aschheim
Immediate Past President
david@solasalonsva.com
David Aschheim is the founder of SR CVA LLC (“CVA”), which owns and operates 10 franchise locations in central and eastern Virginia serving over 330 beauty professionals. David has twice served as Sola System MVP as well as earning other honors, including the “Phone-a-Friend Award,” as the franchisee to call for help, and the “Chuck Norris Award,” for fighting through business challenges. David has over 28 years of business consulting, corporate management and commodity-trading experience. His background includes working in energy deregulation for Deloitte and trading coal for Peabody Energy, the largest United States private coal producer. David holds an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, and BA in political science with honors from the University of Rochester in New York. David lives in Richmond, Virginia, with his wife and sons and enjoys backcountry hiking, tennis, golf and traveling anywhere in the world.
Jim McBride
SSFA Secretary
solabrandywine@gmail.com
Before becoming a Sola Salon Studio owner, Jim McBride had a corporate career in technology and financial services with leading financial companies including J.P. Morgan, Accenture and the New York Stock Exchange. He managed large programs focused on developing business processes and implementing technology systems, giving him an appreciation of having best practices to optimize businesses. McBride also has a 25-year background in property investing, giving him important experience in property management and leasing strategies. He learned about Sola Salons in 2017, and it has become his focus. He now owns and manages two locations with two more to come.
David Demanett
SSFA Treasurer
David.Demanett@gmail.com
Dave Demanett is the owner of Twisted River Ventures, LLC which currently operates two Sola franchise locations in the Des Moines, IA metro area. For nearly ten years, he has managed all aspects of the business model and is actively engaged with Sola professionals every day. Dave leverages his knowledge of business and finance along with a passion for operational systems and improvement to insure client satisfaction and high occupancy against competitors in the local market using the Sola playbook and “tweaking” it for the local market business environment.
Dave began his professional career as a cost accountant and financial analyst in the manufacturing industry at Texas Instruments. He later moved into the financial industry sector and spent twenty-five years in the banking and card payments industry with top tier banks. Having extensive knowledge in virtually all payment card segments including credit and debit, small business and commercial cards, private label, and merchant acquiring, Dave was business group CFO for Wells Fargo from 2000 – 2013 where he was responsible for all accounting, financial and management reporting, planning and financial analysis for a large-scale business group overseeing a 150+ billion loan portfolio and numerous operating entities. His corporate experience also includes mergers & acquisitions, business start-ups, and risk management. After finishing his banking career, Dave embraced his entrepreneurial spirit and opened a first location in July 2015, followed by a second in December 2019.
Dave holds a BBA degree in Finance from Iowa State University, and received his MBA from the University of Texas at Dallas, and is also a Certified Public Accountant.
Austin Lucas
SSFA Director
rochestersola@gmail.com
Austin Lucas is one of the founders of SD Ventures LLC which owns and operates three Sola franchise locations in Rochester Minnesota, with 96 chairs among the three locations. Austin oversees the day-to-day operations of all locations including leasing of studios, maintenance, and accounting. He general contracted 2 of his three Sola construction builds. Austin procured his bachelor’s degree in Aeronautics from the University of North Dakota. After college, he flew corporate jets for over a decade around North America and the Caribbean. During his flying career, he opened his first two Sola locations before deciding to go full-time managing and running his two Sola locations. He ultimately decided to leave his aviation career to open a third Sola location in Rochester. He also owns and manages multiple residential rental properties.
Austin and his wife Kari live in Byron Minnesota and have three young daughters, his youngest being a leukemia survivor. In his spare time he enjoys golfing, carpentry and
construction/building homes.
Anthony Sanchez
SSFA Director
asanchez@sanchez-properties.com
Anthony Sanchez graduated from Kearney State College in Kearney, Nebraska, in 1989 with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. He began a 20-year career in the transportation business with Werner Enterprises before becoming vice president of sales and marketing for Smithway Motor Xpress in Fort Dodge, Iowa. In 2009, he bought a commercial cleaning business in Omaha, Nebraska, which he managed and grew until May 2020. Sanchez now owns three Sola Salon locations in Phoenix, Arizona.
Zac Lysen
SSFA Director
Zac has been involved with Sola since opening his first of six locations in 2018. Prior to his Sola career, Zac was in Corporate America holding many finance positions at Microsoft for over 20 years.
Zac is looking to serve on the Board to help navigate the many challenges we encounter as franchisees to protect and maximize our investments. Zac enjoys spending time outdoors with his family, anything in the mountains such as skiing, hiking and mountain bike riding.