Barry Plant’s Growth Team, led by Head of Growth Mark Lynch, is reinventing the franchise support and recruitment space with a diverse group of personnel from varied backgrounds, a wide range of skills, and a focus on spending significant time in offices and forging strong personal relationships.

After an 18-year stellar career with the group, head of growth Mark Lynch now leads a dynamic and multi-faceted team that has recently expanded with the additions of Franchise Development Manager Ben Burling and Franchise Systems Manager Brit Voglis — a newly created, technology and process-focused role unique to Barry Plant’s Growth Team. The team is expertly supported by Training and Franchise Support Coordinator Sharlene Epifano, who seamlessly bridges the training and franchise support functions within Barry Plant’s Head Office.

“We’re not former real estate agents stepping back from sales; we’re specialists in business growth,” Lynch explained. “I bring 20 years of franchise development experience, Ben brings 15 years of real estate business development expertise, and Brit combines five years of industry experience with a deep knowledge of property technology.”

Lynch highlighted the significance of Voglis’ appointment: “What excites me most about the new-look team is having a dedicated Franchise Systems Manager. It’s a massive advantage for the network and a critical step in the team’s evolution.”

With the team refreshed and new personnel settled into their roles, Barry Plant’s Growth Team is primed to make the most of 2025. The team’s main objectives for the next 12 months are to help each Barry Plant office develop clear plans for growth, foster sustainable growth, continue to improve technology and processes and further cultivate a culture of accountability when it comes to developing their teams through training.

For Mark and the Growth Team, building strong connections with every Barry Plant office is a top priority. The team is committed to frequently visiting each office in the network to deepen the teams’ understanding of how each business and its local market operate, collaborate with owners in their own spaces, and engage directly with their teams. For the Growth Team, phone calls supplement, rather than replace, face-to-face relationship-building in Barry Plant offices.

While the team’s primary focus is on growth, Mark Lynch was very deliberate in his explanation of what sustainable growth means to Barry Plant.

“We are careful to ensure that offices expand both where it makes sense and with the right people. We want to grow through recruiting good-quality people and developing our existing good-quality people into exceptional businesspeople,” explained Lynch.

“You can turn good people into good real estate agents, but not the other way around. When we’re recruiting people, we aren’t strictly assessing sales records to determine if they are a fit for Barry Plant. What we are much more focused on assessing is their values and desire to succeed with purpose, ensuring that the people we bring in suit the network, the brand, and whether we are in a position to help them achieve their goals.”

Barry Plant CEO, Lisa Pennell, echoed Mark’s sentiment with visible excitement about the direction the Growth Team is headed in in 2025.

“With the Growth Team restructured and under Mark’s leadership, we’re in the perfect position to make 2025 a landmark year for growth and recruitment for Barry Plant. The focus is on expanding our network and team in a deliberate, sustainable way—through thoughtful, strategic moves. We are looking for more good, high-performing humans to choose Barry Plant in 2025,” explained Pennell.

Mark Lynch, Barry Plant’s Head of Growth, exemplifies the importance of prioritising good-quality people over solely focusing on resumes.

Long before taking on his current role, Mark’s journey was anything but conventional. At 18, he was a young man without a plan, driving a hotel bus in Broome. His career in real estate began with a simple inquiry. When his family home was being sold, he asked the agent about potential job opportunities in the industry. The agent’s advice was straightforward: gain life experience, travel, and return if his interest in real estate remained.

Mark took this advice to heart, spending the next decade travelling and working in the hotel industry.

“I was perfectly happy driving my hotel bus in Broome and seeing the country. My mother, on the other hand, was less thrilled with my transient lifestyle. She called me out of the blue one day and said, ‘Mark, it’s time to come home and start a real career.’ And my mother isn’t the sort of woman you cross!” Lynch laughed.

Returning to Melbourne, Mark began a real estate career with a key inner-city agency, spending eight years working in the Boroondara and Stonnington markets as a Sales Agent. He later opened his own successful real estate business in North Melbourne. However, life changes prompted him to sell the business and transition to the franchisor side of the industry as a Franchise Manager.

Now, in 2025, Mark has spent the past 18 years with Barry Plant in franchise management. His passion lies in coaching, mentoring, development, recruitment, and auction training—all integral to his role as Head of Growth. Mark’s career trajectory underscores that real estate success isn’t just about experience on paper, but about people skills, life experience, and a willingness to embrace change.

The Growth Team has itself embraced change with the recent appointment of Franchise Development Manager Ben Burling, who is dedicated to recruiting top-tier real estate offices and exceptional industry talent. Since joining Barry Plant in September 2024, Ben has hit the ground running and has already brought an established office on board, successfully recruiting the new Caroline Springs office, which transitioned from another major real estate network.

“It’s been a whirlwind start to my time at Barry Plant, and I’ve loved every minute. I was proud to bring the Caroline Springs team on board in such a short timeframe before Christmas, and they’ve been an exceptional addition to our network,” said Burling.

Prior to joining Barry Plant, Ben worked in the real estate industry for 15 years, gaining extensive experience in business development and real estate. After starting as a Sales Agent in 2008, Ben moved into the property management space, where he worked for six years before taking on a business development and growth role at a major real estate network. It was in this role that Ben found his true passion.

“My specialty is business development and recruitment, and those are areas I love working in. Helping businesses grow, thrive, and improve provides me with the most fulfilment, and I’m thrilled to bring my skills in that area to Barry Plant and continue to enhance the network,” said Burling.

“In my short time at Barry Plant, I’ve found that this group is incredibly generous, good-natured, and everyone is pulling in the same direction. Lisa Pennell’s leadership was a huge selling point in bringing me across to Barry Plant, and she has been a strong advocate for the Growth Team during my time here.”

Rounding out the Growth Team is the most recent addition, Franchise Systems Manager Brit Voglis. Brit started her real estate career as a Sales Administrator at a boutique real estate brand and thrived quickly stepping up to become an Executive Assistant to the Head of Staff, managing staff across three locations.

In 2023, Brit moved to Barry Plant, where she specialised in property technology as a Digital Administrator, building the Barry Plant intranet from scratch and launching it within her first year. Finally, in October 2024, she transitioned into the role of Franchise Systems Manager, where her focus is now on helping offices improve their processes, implement new technologies, and maximise the use of existing technologies.

“It’s the first time Barry Plant has had a dedicated property technology person in the Growth Team, and I think it’s been a huge positive for the network. In the past, technology was an area where offices needed more support, so I’m here, proactively visiting and assisting offices to maximise their tech and improve processes wherever possible," explained Voglis.

“Aside from the technical side of things, the Growth Team acts as a conduit between the offices and Head Office, ensuring that communication and culture remain strong. We understand the daily complexities of running an office while also aligning with HQ’s broader direction.”

The strength of Barry Plant’s Growth Team lies in the deep real estate industry experience that all three members bring, combined with their diverse focuses and skillsets. Growth, business development, process improvements, and property technology are all covered by the multi-faceted team of Mark, Ben, and Brit.

With an unwavering commitment to fostering personal relationships, driving sustainable growth, and leveraging cutting-edge technology, Barry Plant’s Growth Team is set to make 2025 a year of significant achievements. By blending expertise, innovation, and a shared vision for the future, the team is poised to help the Barry Plant network continue thriving and evolving in an ever-competitive real estate landscape.