Currently, Lynn is the majority owner and serves as Chairman of Cummings Incorporated. At almost 60 years old, the company is one of the oldest national sign companies in the USA, with customers including Chevron, Chrysler, KFC, Holiday Inn, Taco Bell, Church’s, Wells Fargo Bank, Bank of America, Pizza Hut, Fleet Bank, CVS, Long John Silver’s, and A&W.

In April 1995, Lynn was named Chairman and CEO of Shoney’s, Inc., owner and franchisor of more than 1,500 Shoney’s, Captain D’s, Pargo’s and Fifth Quarter Steakhouses. Lynn came to Shoney’s after 12 years as Chairman and CEO of Sonic Corporation. He built the top-notch management team, which transformed a struggling company into the nation’s largest chain of drive-in restaurants and the ‘number two’ hamburger chair in the Southwest, with approximately $2 billion in system-wide sales. Lynn acquired the company in a leveraged buyout in 1986 and Sonic experienced unprecedented same store sales growth with an average increase of eight percent per year over his tenure. A key factor in the establishment of Sonic’s success was an “ownership” culture where unit managers own part of their restaurants. Lynn built strong relationships with franchisees.

Prior to Sonic, Lynn was executive vice president and chief operating officer for the Burtson Corporation, a privately owned, restaurant chain headquartered in Southern California.

Before joining Burtson, Lynn left the food service industry for three years and served as vice president for Century 21 Real Estate Corporation at their corporate headquarters in Irvine, California. During this time, he functioned in a dual role in charge of the Product Control and Service Division, as well as president and chief executive officer of Marquest, Inc., a marketing support subsidiary of Century 21 Real Estate Corporation.

In June of 1973, Lynn began his experience in the food industry when he spent five years with Kentucky Fried Chicken Corporation where he was director of the Distribution Division. His responsibilities for the $100 million plus division included establishing and managing eight company warehouses, three public warehouses, and 23 wholesale food service distributors.

Lynn began his career with Brown and Williams Corporation as an industrial engineer responsible for the raw materials processing and recycling departments. He received his B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Tennessee Technological University and his M.B.A. from the University of Louisville, where he graduated Cum Laude.

An alumnus of Leadership Nashville, Lynn serves on the board of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, Tennessee Tech University, University of Louisville (past), National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, and LaGrange College.

During his 12 years in Oklahoma, Lynn served on numerous boards, including: The Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce, Oklahoma State Chamber of Commerce (past chairman), Allied Arts Foundation, City Bank, The Salvation Army, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Young Presidents’ Organization (past chairman), Oklahoma Baptist Medical Center, Oklahoma City Art Museum, University of Louisville and The National Cowboy Hall of Fame. Lynn is also an alumnus of Leadership Oklahoma and Leadership Oklahoma City. Lynn is a past chairman of the International Franchise Association (a trade association representing most of the franchise organizations in the world).