H&R Block Appoints New President And CEO

Vanessa Doctor

8 July 2010

H&R Block, the international tax service provider, has named Alan Bennett as its new president and chief executive officer.

Bennett takes over from Russ Smyth, who resigned to accept a CEO position at a Chicago-based private firm. He joined H&R in 2007 and served as interim CEO from November 2007 to August 2008. After that he was elected to the board, where he served on both the audit and finance committees.

"The national economic environment has presented its share of challenges, but as a company we have weathered that storm and shown great resilience. I know this company well, and I am confident that everyone at H&R Block shares a commitment to improving our business and financial performance so we can meet our key objective of delivering value to shareholders," said Bennett in a statement.

Aside from his role at H&R, Bennett is also a director and chairman of the audit committee at Halliburton Co and a director at TJX Companies.

H&R is one of the largest tax providers in the world with a background of over 550 million tax returns prepared globally since 1955. In 2010, the company recorded $3.9 billion in annual revenue or more than 23 million tax returns.