Robert Digby, Chief Executive Officer
Robert Digby is the Chief Executive Officer of PAI Group. Robert is responsible for the overall sales and operations leadership. He brings to the position more than 20 years of payroll, HR and benefits industry expertise, with proven operational success in leading high-performance organizations and customer centric service organizations. He is the former President of RSM McGladrey Employer Services, the payroll, HR and benefit services company of RSM McGladrey / H&R Block. Robert also held senior leadership roles during his 15 year career at Ceridian, including President of PowerPay Internet small business payroll division, Senior VP of Marketing and Senior VP of Sales / Client Services for Ceridian Corporation. While at Ceridian, Robert launched PowerPay which was the first web based Internet payroll product in the industry. In addition he launched the Encore 500 product which was rated #1 by Gartner in 1999. While at Ceridian, he also directed a national sales organization of 480 sales representatives. A Captain in the U.S. Army, Robert received his B.A. in Economics from the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) where he graduated as a distinguished military and honor graduate.
Jim Costello, President
Jim has 25 years of experience in the payroll and human resources outsourcing industry. He has held senior management positions in sales, operations and client services for national outsourcing companies including Bank of America, ADP and Genesys Software Systems. Prior to joining Payroll Associates, Jim served as General Manager and founding member of EmployeeMatters.com which was acquired by Intuit in 2001. Since 2005, Jim has built the payroll software and ancillary services business for Payroll Associates, and today oversees the largest payroll software licensee base in the nation. His ancillary service business encompasses one of the nation’s largest payroll integrated workers compensation markets in existence. As a technology leader he is currently overseeing the rollout of Encore, the nation’s first Microsoft .net, SQL 2005 payroll application.
Jeff Smith, Chief Financial Officer
Jeff is responsible for PAI Group's capital structure, including debt and equity financing and leads the firm's acquisition program. He is also responsible for financial reporting, budgeting and human resources and plays an active role in business development activities. Previously, Jeff was CFO of UNX, a venture-backed, high-tech broker-dealer. At UNX, Jeff managed investor relations, regulatory compliance, human resources and all financial areas. He also served as financial controller for Swiss Casinos of America, a Zurich-based casino and resort management company, where he was instrumental in raising more than $200 million in debt financing for the company's flagship resort property. Jeff began his career in the Philadelphia office of Ernst & Young, and he holds an accounting degree from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Jeff is a licensed Certified Public Accountant and Chartered Financial Analyst charterholder.
Bruce Arruda, Vice President-Client Services
Bruce has spent more than 25 years in the payroll industry working with Managistics, Bank of America and ADP with a strong background in operations and client services. Bruce spent ten years at ADP/Managistics as both a Senior Account Manager and a Senior Sales Consultant for National Accounts. Bruce joined Payroll Associates in 2002 as Director of Client Development. Most recently he served as Director of Client Support with responsibility for managing the technical services department as well as leading the client educational program.
Filip Everaert, Chief Technology Officer
Mr. Everaert has spent the past 15 years as a consultant contributing to and leading software product development efforts for new and existing businesses in payroll, manufacturing and communications industries. After joining Payroll Associates in 2003 to help with development of new software, he assumed responsibility for the ENCORE project in March of 2004. Mr. Everaert has engineering and finance degrees from the University of Leuven in Belgium. He earned an MBA in International Business from Bernard M. Baruch School of Business in New York.
Frank Sessa, Vice President-Sales & Marketing
With more than nine years of payroll sales and management experience, Frank previously held the position of Major Accounts District Manager for ADP. Previously, Frank was District Manager for Zurich Payroll Solutions, a former Payroll Associates licensee. Frank joined Payroll Associates as Director of Sales of the Eastern region in 2002. Through his sales efforts, Frank was responsible for significant growth of the Payroll Associates community with the sales of more than 100 new software licenses.
Mary Fertig, Director of Marketing & Communications
Mary has spent the last 14 years working in various marketing and operational positions with high technology companies including PDC Solutions and SPS Technologies. Mary’s responsibilities include the development and support of sales and marketing tools and alliance programs that help licensees to grow and succeed. Additionally, Mary focuses on establishing clear and active lines of communications between Payroll Associates and the Licensee Community.
Laurie Beppel, Director of Client Development
Laurie has a strong background in payroll and human resources operations as well as experience as an Account Executive with Pay America. Prior to joining Payroll Associates, Laurie spent 5 years with ICI, Americas. Laurie’s fundamental role in the Licensee Community is to introduce opportunities or ideas that can help licensees grow their business. Accordingly, Laurie has responsibility for getting existing users licensed for the products and services that we develop. Additionally, Laurie concentrates on the products and services that are available via the Alliance programs. Laurie works closely with licensees and the Alliance Group to ensure that the community understands what is available and how it will benefit clients.
Charles Kershes, Director of Call Center Services
With over 20 years management experience in the IT arena, Charles has held numerous management positions for Fortune 500 positions, including six years with Anacomp as District Manager responsible for staff of 30 processing information daily for the largest financial and healthcare providers in Southeast Pennsylvania. Charles began his career at Payroll Associates in 1998 as Director of Sales & Marketing. Charles later joined Product Development to lead projects such as the Support Website and the suite of Online Employer products. Charles has responsibility for management of all daily call center activities. Call center teams of support report directly to Charles.
