Jackson Hewitt Shares Jump On CEO Appointment

Jackson Hewitt said Buckley's appointment was the latest in a series of moves aimed at turning around the company. Others steps include contracting with a management consulting company, and working with financial adviser Goldman Sachs & Co., which Jackson Hewitt says is helping its board examine "a range of strategic and financial alternatives for the company."

In announcing Buckley's appointment, Jackson Hewitt's non-executive chairwoman, Margaret Richardson, said the company's board "has been working with a sense of great urgency to address the company's performance."

In March, Jackson Hewitt posted a slight rise in fiscal third-quarter profit, but nevertheless lowered its forecast for 2009 based on a decline in the number of tax returns prepared.

Richardson said work on a plan to turn around company performance "is well under way, which will help enable our new CEO to 'hit the ground running' in implementing performance-enhancing initiatives."

Buckley joined H&R Block in 1968 as a tax preparer and served in a variety of operational and marketing roles.

In January 1997, he joined the Jackson Hewitt board. In November 1998, he became chairman of a major Jackson Hewitt franchisee, Tax Services of America, and became a consultant to the company. He retired in 2002.