Executive: Heather McLeod
Company: BNI Global
Industry: Referral networking organization (franchise model)
Company Snapshot: A global membership organization built around structured, relationship-driven referrals
Format: CMO Journeys Interview
Why It Matters
Heather McLeod built her career in franchising by staying close to the people who run the business in the real world. Now she brings that same mindset to BNI, the world’s largest referral networking organization. Her journey is worth studying because she keeps marketing simple: find what drives revenue, then remove friction. For agencies, she’s unusually clear about what earns trust—and what gets ignored.
Their Path, in Short
After undergrad, McLeod struggled to land a marketing job in a saturated market. So she went back to school for an MBA.
She later interviewed at The Dwyer Group (now Neighborly), a franchise home services organization, and said the fit felt right because she loved the people she met. That “people first” instinct became a pattern. “I’m a big believer that iron sharpens iron,” she said, explaining that she seeks leaders who make her stronger.
Her first role in that world was as marketing manager for Rainbow International, a water, fire, mold, and smoke restoration business. She said she knew nothing about the category, so she immersed herself—spending time with franchise owners and letting them teach her what they needed and what would “move the needle.”
She later moved to Mr. Rooter and worked for Mary Thompson, who would later become CEO of BNI. McLeod pointed out how relationships compound: the people you learn from early can reappear later, in bigger roles, when the stakes are higher.
Over time, her definition of marketing expanded. She said she thinks broadly about what belongs in the “marketing bucket,” always asking: what are the revenue drivers, and how do we maximize impact there? In franchising, she explained, marketing is a major lever. Another lever is locations—helping existing locations market more effectively and putting more dots on the map through franchise sales. That mindset expanded her scope beyond traditional marketing.
Big Themes From the Conversation
McLeod’s energy comes from operators. She said spending time with franchise owners and master franchisees motivates her to do great work on their behalf.
She also respects how complex multi-location really is. In her world, there are different owners in every market, different contact information, and a constant need for localization—“everything has to be able to be localized,” she said.
Finally, she keeps coming back to scale. Franchise budgets, she explained, aren’t built like corporate-owned budgets because the corporate office is collecting a percentage fee to provide support. That’s why she needs solutions that scale, and why she often prefers approaches where “tech is doing the work and not people man hours.”
Watch CMO Journeys Interview
How They Choose the Right Agency Partners
When I asked McLeod what she looks for in an agency partner, she started with a practical advantage: shorten the ramp. She likes partners who have worked in the industry because it reduces how much she has to teach. She’s happy to educate on brand. She wants industry best practices coming from the agency side.
But she quickly clarified that “industry experience” is really about multi-location understanding. It doesn’t have to be the exact same niche, she said. What matters is knowing how to localize at scale and solve for complexity without costs going “through the roof.” In her world, that often means tech-enabled solutions that don’t rely on endless manual hours.
Then she talked about delivery. She values agencies that deliver on what they commit to, and she prefers “over-delivering and under-promising versus the opposite.” She also noted a common frustration: the sales process can set one expectation, and the shift to account management can feel different.
And she cares about chemistry. She wants partners she trusts and enjoys working with.
On getting noticed, she didn’t mince words: stop with the really long LinkedIn messages. The kind that makes you scroll. “I can’t stand it,” she said.
The bigger issue is timing. Most of the time, she doesn’t want to talk until she’s actively solving a problem. She gave a concrete example from her own work: she needed a website tool that could help users translate and move across multiple languages because she supports many countries. So she started hunting, checked what G2 said, researched options, and then booked calls.
That’s why cold outreach usually doesn’t work on her. The exception, she said, can be face-to-face at events. And referrals matter. She leans on peers to ask, “Have you used a great agency in this space?” She uses those recommendations to validate options and shortcut decisions.
She told one story that captured it. She worked with a social agency out of New York to help her show up more on LinkedIn. She wanted to post more, but she didn’t feel like anyone cared what she had to say. The agency helped her “get my feet under me” and find her voice. Later, someone at BNI noticed her LinkedIn and asked how to do something similar. When McLeod reached out, the agency founder replied with a twist: he was already in a BNI chapter in New York. McLeod loved that because he “got it.”
What Stood Out
McLeod is warm about the people she serves and blunt about what wastes time. One line captured her compass: “I want people who I can trust. I want people who I know are going to deliver on the things that they say.” It’s simple, human, and consistent with everything else she described.
Inside Scoop
This article focuses on the journey, the leadership philosophy, and how this CMO works with agency partners.
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