Philip Sanford, a longtime Atlanta business executive who has held top positions with Coca-Cola Enterprises, The Krystal Company and Caribou Coffee, has been named to run Jackson Hewitt Tax Service.
Sanford, 56, will serve as president and chief executive officer of the company which has 6,000 offices around the country, including more than 2,000 in Walmart stores. He said will continue to reside in Atlanta while working for Parsippany, N.J.-based Jackson Hewitt.
He has been with the company since August, serving as as executive vice president for strategy and performance before being promoted.
"It's a significant company, one that's very exciting and very interesting," said Sanford, who foresees opportunity to grow the business.
"Taxes are obviously not going away and I don't see a whole lot of movement towards [tax preparation] simplification," he said. "Jackson Hewitt has a wonderful name and brand identity. This is something we can grow and leverage and prosper."
Jackson Hewitt stands to benefit, at least this tax season, from a ruling by federal regulators that will prevent top competitor H & R Block from making available popular tax refund anticipation loans to its customers. Tax preparers like Jackson Hewitt and Block don't offer the loans -- banks do -- but they facilitate them. Block's banking partner was forced to stop offering the loans.
"We will have those for the coming season," Sanford said. "This is a product that certainly a large number of our customers want and desire."
Of Jackson Hewitt's 6,000 stores, 85 percent are operated by franchisees and Sanford has considerable franchise experience. He has served as president and chief operating officer of Value Place, an extended stay hotel chain; as chairman and CEO of Krystal, the fast food chain; and as senior vice president of finance and administration with CCE. He is a member of the board of directors of Caribou, the coffee house chain.
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