Meet the Interns

We are very excited to welcome our summer 2019 interns! Learn more about the newest staff members of IFA from their brief bios below.

Robert Duffy – Legal Intern

Robert Duffy graduated from Indiana University and is now pursuing a law degree at the George Washington University Law School. In his free time, he loves to watch soccer and play guitar. Robert is excited about this internship because he is interested in learning about the laws governing franchising, as well as business and employment law. He is also eager to gain experience working and meeting with staffers on the Hill. Robert is grateful for this opportunity because IFA has a wonderful reputation and does a lot of interesting work!

Madeleine Faunce – Government Relations Intern

Madeleine Faunce is a student at the University of Virginia and is studying Politics of Foreign Affairs and Spanish. In her free time, Madeleine loves to be outside; you can usually find her corralling her friends to explore new foods, experiences, and different parts of the city. Madeleine is excited to learn from her government relations staff how they educate and halt harmful legislation to the franchise business model. From this internship, she hopes to develop a better understanding of what these specific areas do in order to leave the IFA with a clearer idea of what she’d like to pursue a career in.

Mharizza Hipolito – Conferences Intern

Mharizza Hipolito is a student at the University of Maryland – College Park and is majoring in Family Science at their School of Public Health. When she is not working as a Conferences intern at IFA or as a hostess at Bobby Van’s Steakhouse in Washington, D.C., she loves to go out and visit family members and friends. She is excited for this internship as it will introduce her to a new environment where she can use her effective communication skills to help make a positive impact. Through this internship, Mharizza believes she will learn many new skills that she can apply to her professional career.

Owen Isaacs – Accounting Intern

Owen Isaacs is a student at the University of Southern California in the Marshall School of Business. In his free time, he loves to play sports and is interested in making music. He is very excited to be working at IFA this summer and hopes to gain valuable insight and experience into how businesses are able to effectively organize their finances and find efficient ways to keep track of this data in order to make informed financial decisions in the future.

Mallory Niehoff – Marketing Intern

Mallory Niehoff is a student at James Madison University pursuing a degree in Marketing. In her free time, Mallory enjoys spending time with her friends, binge watching Netflix shows, and chasing after her 4-year-old niece and 1-year-old nephew. Mallory is very excited to immerse herself into the world of marketing; something she has had a passion for since high school. She is very thankful to have the opportunity to work at IFA and hopes to gain insight about the different strategies and tools used to effectively market a business to the world.

Zach Stahl – VetFran Fellow

Zach Stahl is an Accounting and International Relations double major at American University in Washington, D.C. Zach is involved in the International Relations Society on campus. He’s extremely excited to be working with Radim and Matt on VetFran this summer, and he can’t wait to see what’s in store for his time here at IFA.

Lingxiao Sun – Data Intern

Lingxiao Sun graduated from George Washington University with her master’s degree in Statistics. In her free time, Lingxiao loves swimming and gardening. Throughout this internship period, she hopes to gain some real-world experience by applying the knowledge that she has gained. She is very excited to be working at IFA this summer.

Hutheyfa Tabbah – Government Relations Intern

Hutheyfa Tabbah is a student at the University of Michigan where he is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Economics. Hutheyfa enjoys spending his free time hanging out with family and playing a variety of sports. He’s excited to be working on the government relations team and hopes to learn about franchise lobbying. By the end of his internship, he wants to have built an understanding of the IFA’s system and how franchising contributes to economic growth.