Joel Kleber, Chief Marketing Officer of Jim’s Group, has topped the 2026 Top 30 Franchise Executives report, taking the number one spot.
Kleber first claimed first place in 2024. He is now the first executive ever to be named number one twice. Seven judges from across the franchise sector ranked the field on commercial impact, innovation, leadership, and contribution to franchisee performance. He led a top five that included Anytime Fitness CEO Simon Thompson in second and Hip Pocket Workwear and Safety CEO Peter Fiasco in third.
A strategy built on transparency
Kleber moved into marketing at Jim’s Group in 2019 with no formal marketing background. He came from legal, compliance, and operations roles inside the business. His operator view shaped how he runs marketing today.
His approach centres on one idea. Show the business as it is. Franchisees on camera, talking about the work and the money. No script, no polish. The judges named the result. Kleber doubled down on a tech-driven strategy and showed transparency and communication, lifting both franchisor and franchisee performance.
“The ranking belongs to the franchisees who put themselves
on camera,” – Kleber said.
They told the truth about the work, the good days and the hard ones, and prospects trusted them. My job was to get out of the way and let those stories run. Transparency built this network, not marketing spend.”
What sets the strategy apart
Three moves separate the approach from standard franchise marketing. Kleber built founder visibility around Jim Penman, turning the founder’s reach into a recruitment channel. He put franchisees on camera at scale, letting prospects hear from people doing the work. And he runs production through AI tools, keeping output high without a large team.
The Franchise Trust Engine
Kleber built a framework he calls the Franchise Trust Engine. Ten components cover how a franchise brand earns trust at scale, from founder visibility to franchisee proof to consistent organic reach. Founder Jim Penman sits at the centre, giving the network a level of founder reach few brands match. Kleber turned that reach into a recruitment engine.
The 2026 win points to a clear lesson for franchise marketers. Trust drives growth, and one operator with the right systems shifts a national network. Kleber plans to push the model further, scaling franchisee video and founder content across the network’s 50-plus divisions.