Michael K. Hamra is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Hamra Enterprises which owns and operates 98 restaurants consisting of Wendy’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers, Panera Bread bakery-cafes and Noodles and Company stores spanning from the Midwest to the North East.
Mr. Hamra received his B.A. from Ohio Wesleyan University, his J.D. from the University of Missouri School of Law and his MBA from Kennesaw State University.
Mr. Hamra practiced law in Washington, D.C. from 1994 to 2001. During his time in Washington, D.C. he was the Director of Governmental and Regulatory Affairs for Metricom, Inc., a high-speed Internet access company providing mobile wireless Internet access to laptop and personal digital assistance users in fifteen markets in the United States.
Prior to joining Metricom, Mr. Hamra was an attorney in the Washington, D.C. office of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, L.L.P. from 1997 to 2000 representing telecommunication clients on regulatory and legislative matters.
From 1994 to 1997, Mr. Hamra served as Legislative Counsel for the U.S. Senate, Office of the Sergeant of Arms and later received a political appointment in the Clinton Administration where he served as Special Counsel at the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Telecommunications and Information Administration where he assisted the Clinton Administration in the drafting of the 1996 Telecommunications Act. After leaving the Clinton Administration, he became the Chief of Staff and Legal Advisor for the Federal Communications Commission’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau.
In 2001, Mr. Hamra was commissioned by the U.S. Department of State to represent the United States in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia where he assisted the new Yugoslavian government in rewriting the telecommunications law inherited from the Milosevic regime.
Mr. Hamra is active within the Panera franchise community and formerly served as an elected franchise official on Panera’s franchise council and was its co-Chairman during his tenure. He is also a director of Oakstar Bankshares Holdings based in Springfield, Missouri. Mr. Hamra also serves as the Chair of Family Enterprise USA which is a Washington, DC based non-profit membership organization that provides education to the general public, policymakers and the media about the collective issues facing family enterprises.
Mr. Hamra is a recipient of the US Department of Commerce Bronze Medal for Superior Federal Service and recognized as a Boston Business Journal’s 40 under 40. He is also a member of Young Presidents Organization.
