Scott Sharkey

Scott Sharkey is the Founder and CEO of Sharkey’s Cuts for Kids, a children’s hair-salon franchise he built with his wife and business partner, Linda Sharkey. What started as a single Connecticut salon has grown into one of the largest kids’-salon brands in the country, with more than 220 locations open and dozens more in development as of mid-2026. The business is built around a semi-absentee, passive-ownership model that Sharkey markets specifically to investors and business operators rather than trained stylists — franchise owners run the business while licensed staff handle the haircuts.

Career Highlights

Before Sharkey’s, Sharkey’s professional background was in the barcode and thermal-printing industry. Public profiles list him as a Senior Consultant at IIMAK (International Imaging Materials), a longtime manufacturer of thermal-transfer ribbons used in barcode and label printing. He has described being part of an earlier, unnamed barcode-related business that he and his family sold around 2000, shortly before he and Linda left New York City for Connecticut.

Sharkey’s Cuts for Kids traces to 2001, when Scott and Linda opened their first salon. Linda came out of the advertising industry, with a background at agencies including Saatchi & Saatchi and Grey Advertising, before turning that marketing experience toward building the Sharkey’s brand alongside Scott. The couple still personally owns and operates the original corporate salon in Westport, Connecticut, which the company uses to pilot new concepts before rolling them out across the franchise system.

Under Sharkey’s leadership as CEO, the company has grown into a national franchise with international locations, operating under the wider Sharkey’s Franchising Company umbrella alongside related brands Sharkey’s Hair It Is and Sharkey’s Haircare Products. Company materials cite more than 220 open locations and roughly 78 more in development, including about 40 scheduled to open in 2026. The brand has been recognized by Franchise Times as the “Fastest Growing Children’s Hair Salon” and named to Entrepreneur’s Franchise 500 rankings, including its 2018 list of top franchises under $150K.

Education

Sharkey attended the University of Hartford.