The Exodus

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By Ben Levisohn

The Exodus

The Lehman bankruptcy one year ago sent many financial workers into new professions. But it wasn't the beginning of the exodus. The onset of the recession in 2007 started a wave of Wall Street layoffs that saw jobs in finance plummet from 8.4 million in August 2007 to 7.8 million today. With jobs hard to come by, many Wall Street exiles decided to leave finance and look for other opportunities. For a select group, franchising offered the opportunity to start a new business—but not quite from scratch. Here are stories of 11 former finance professionals who have moved on to franchising.