How the COO of The Dwyer Group Finds Balance By Leading with Her Head and Her Heart

Before Mary Kennedy Thompson became the Chief Operating Officer for The Dwyer Group, she was first a mother, a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps and a franchisee—three roles that have greatly influenced the leader and the woman that she is today.

Growing up, Thompson was very much a citizen of the world. Her father, a member of the United States Army, was stationed all around the globe, bringing his wife and children with him. At a young age, Thompson had the chance to visit places like India and Germany alongside her father, and she saw firsthand the value of hard work and facing challenging situations head on. As Thompson got older, that experience inspired her to follow in his footsteps. So, after graduating high school in 1985, she was later commissioned as second lieutenant in the Marine Corps.

“My dad was one of my first mentors and taught me a lot about leadership,” Thompson said. “Leadership starts with listening to your gut because it brings together your head with your heart. It’s about having enough heart to care, and enough mind to think through making smart decisions.”

Thompson served eight years in the Marine Corps. During that time, she rappelled out of helicopters and managed an airfield in Korea. She also became one of the first women assigned to the Beach and Port Company, where she was a platoon commander assigned to lead 58 marines, all of which were men.

“It wasn’t about going down the easy road, it was about being the best person you can be. That starts with doing the right thing. I’ve found that doing the right thing is rarely about doing the easiest things. I didn’t take the comfortable path. I always believed a comfortable path is the most dangerous path you can take,” Thompson said.

After Thompson married her college sweetheart and gave birth to her daughter, she made the decision to transition back into the civilian world. One day, her husband brought home a pamphlet for a company called Cookies By Design. The couple had always toyed with the idea of becoming business owners, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to finally make that dream a reality. But there was only one problem—she didn’t know how to make the company’s decadent, expertly-designed cookies herself. That’s when she noticed three words that would eventually chart the course for the rest of her career: “Franchising Opportunities Available.”

Thompson officially became a franchisee in 1994, which marked the beginning of a life-long love affair with the franchise industry. Over the years, she opened additional locations and earned multiple awards as a top-performing multi-franchisee. Then, after six years in the business, she sold her shops and was later recruited by Cookies By Design’s corporate office. In her first year, she visited 130 sites, teaching others how to grow and operate their shops more successfully. After building the company’s field program and filling most positions within the company, in 2004, Thompson was promoted to president.

All the while, Thompson had also been actively involved with the International Franchise Association, attending meetings and sitting on panels. It was here she was introduced to Mike Bidwell, then the president of The Dwyer Group. A few years later, Bidwell invited Thompson to become president of their largest brand under The Dwyer Group—Mr. Rooter.

“I went from a company that was very much a girl’s club to a company that was a boy’s club. For a moment I questioned what the president of a cookie company could do for a plumbing company. But I quickly learned that I knew the business of business, and I knew how to lead. And that’s what Bidwell saw in me,” Thompson said.

This new role for Thompson was significant in more ways than one, however. This would also mark the first time that a woman was in charge of the company.

“I never thought about gender as something that did anything but give me a different perspective. My journey in franchising has always been about if I could take this company and lead it. And that has nothing to do with gender—it’s about if you can get the job done,” Thompson said. “Franchising is the purest form of leadership. You inspire, you teach and you encourage people to be the best version of themselves to grow their company. Male or female, we all have that ability in us.”

Under Thompson’s leadership, Mr. Rooter has been included in many prestigious rankings, including Entrepreneur Magazine's Franchise 500, Franchise Business Review's Franchisee Satisfaction Award, PHC News Top 100 Contractors and USA Today's Top 50 Franchises for Veterans. Over the years, Thompson has been awarded personally for her hard work, too. In 2013, she was presented with the Bonnie LeVine award—the highest honor awarded by the International Franchise Association for women in franchising. Thompson says it was a powerful and humbling moment—a handful of her own mentors and sources of inspiration received that very same award in the years before her. This included Dina Dwyer, the then-CEO of The Dwyer Group.

“Dina helped to give me my own vision for the leader and woman I wanted to be. She showed me how to lead with heart,” Thompson said. “By recognizing women like Dina who have played an important role in the industry, we’re helping other woman discover a path to do the same. Dina has certainly done that for me, and I hope to do the same for other women.”

Today, as the Chief Operating Officer of The Dwyer Group, Thompson has taken it upon herself to not only make the company’s 11 franchise brands as strong and as successful as possible, but to also continue sharing her vision—not just as the leader of a thriving billion dollar company, but as a mother, too—with young women who are eager to make a difference in the world.

“Women before me cleared a path for me. My goal now is to create a path for my daughter. Women need to know that they can do anything they set their minds to,” Thompson said. “Be audacious. Be kind to one another. Be understanding. But most importantly, take care of yourself along the way. Only then can you truly be the best version of yourself—and that, to me, is what it takes to be a leader.”