Franchise Update Magazine Issue IV, 2014 | Page 16

Grow Market Lead

CEO
profile:
The Tax Man Giveth
John Hewitt builds big companies and fights hunger worldwide
BY KERRY PIPES

Y

ou might say John Hewitt has
had a taxing career. In fact,
over 45 years he’s founded,
developed, and managed two
of the top three tax companies in the
country. Now he has his sights set on
making Liberty Tax Service the numberone tax company in the world by 2020.
Hewitt began his career working for
H&R Block in 1969 as a tax preparer
before quickly advancing to assistant
manager and regional director. He
was the company’s youngest regional
director, managing more than 2,000
tax preparers in 250 offices in one of
H&R Block’s largest districts.
In the early 1980s, he and his father
invented the first tax software for the
fledgling Apple Computer company. But
his “eureka moment” was still to come.
In 1982, Hewitt and a team of investors founded Jackson Hewitt Tax
Service in Hampton Roads, Va. The
company used his unique “Hewtax”
decision-tree tax interview software
program, an industry first. The concept was a hit with taxpayers, and he
took the company public before selling it—and its 1,345 offices—in 1997
for $483 million.
Name: John Hewitt
Title: Founder and CEO
Company: Liberty Tax Service
Units: 4,400+ offices in the U.S. and Canada
Age: 65
Family: 2 sons, 1 daughter, 4 grandchildren
Years in franchising: 45
Years in current position: 18

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In 1997, he founded Liberty Tax
Service, an organization that went on
to become the fastest-growing tax company from 2000 to 2014. Today, there
are more than 4,400 Liberty Tax offices
in the U.S. and Canada.
Hewitt says building a tax company

was easier the second time around.
“There was lots of trial and error in
building Jackson Hewitt,” he says. “With
Liberty Tax we knew what to do and
what not to do, and we were able to do
it much more efficiently and quickly.”
Again, with big-time successful results.