Cleophus P. Franklin Jr.
Founder, President & CEO
Cleophus P. Franklin Jr. spent 35 years leading global operations at John Deere, Case New Holland, and Mahindra. At Mahindra, he scaled the North America and Latin America business from $132M to $1.4B in revenue, moving market share from #6 to #3 in the North American tractor category, work that earned him and his team induction into the Mahindra Business Hall of Fame. His leadership took him across Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Europe, Australia, India, and Japan, with additional consulting engagements in Korea, China, Nigeria, and Ghana.
He now runs Franklin Strategic Solutions, teaches strategic management as a Senior Corporate Fellow and Adjunct Professor at the University of Houston-Downtown, and serves as Chief Marketing Officer at Laddering Your Success.
He holds an MBA from the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler School of Business and a bachelor's degree from Morningside University, where he was the school's first African American student government president. A 1981 graduate, Franklin was a standout guard with one of the highest career scoring averages in Morningside basketball history, an honor later recognized with his induction into the Morningside Athletics Hall of Fame.
Franklin has written twelve books across three genres, including the leadership titles The Breakthrough Collection™ and Coffee With Cleo, the poetry collection Words Etched in My Heart, and the children's book What Do You See When You Look At Me.
Through the Franklin Leadership Foundation, proceeds from his books fund scholarships for underprivileged students at Morningside, his alma mater.
