“Published in the Summer 2015 FAPEO Update Newsletter”
PEO founder and CEO Janice Legters is not a newcomer to the PEO industry, but her company Prosperity PEO, founded July 2014, is still just shy of its first birthday. She is also founder and CEO of Peoples Payroll LLC, a company she formed in 2012.
“I have been involved in the PEO industry since 1995,” Janice says. “My early career was all customer service management and sales management, which led me into insurance and payroll management, then PEO.”
Early in her career, Janice became a Florida licensed 220 property and casualty (P&C) agent. Her passion and understanding of the industry made her a quick student and a natural leader.
When she first came upon the PEO model, Janice was the director of operations and sales for an administrative services organization (ASO). This put her in a somewhat adversarial role at first, but it eventually led to her first job with a PEO.
“My first encounter with the industry was selling against PEOs in an ASO/payroll environment,” Janice explains. “This led to adding to our services by brokering for a PEO, Administrative Concepts Corp. That relationship spun into a job at the PEO as director of sales in 2002 and then a promotion to general manager in 2003.”
Administrative Concepts Corp. (ACC) serviced 13,000 employees and consistently ranked in the top 50 PEOs in Florida. During her tenure with ACC, Janice was a major contributor to the launch and development of a Florida-based workers’ compensation carrier, for which she served as a board member and executive.
In 2007, Janice joined the team as vice president of sales at First Financial Employee Leasing (FFEL), a top 20 Florida PEO servicing 22,000 employees. While at FFEL, Janice managed a sales force expansion effort directed at increasing the client base, expanding the geographical footprint and diversifying the product offering.
Four years later, Janice expanded her scope of work into the human resources outsourcing industry and was responsible for managing the delivery of multinational payroll, time and attendance, benefits, human capital management and contact center services, and was ultimately accountable for key performance indicators and service level metrics. Her business acumen is further highlighted by her ability to orchestrate, contribute and communicate with client executives and vendor management resources to align and deliver services to meet strategic initiatives for over $10 million in revenue.
After learning the ropes in executive management positions at other PEOs, this entrepreneur wanted to go after her goal of becoming a business owner. In 2012, Janice founded Peoples Payroll LLC, a full-service ASO in Lakewood Ranch, a few miles northeast of Sarasota. Adding Prosperity PEO to her company’s services last year, Janice says employers now have a one-stop solution for all their employee administration needs.
“I started a new PEO because I had been in executive management at two previous PEOs and had the dream of being a business owner for many years,” she says. “I fell in love with the industry and couldn’t imagine doing anything else. I believe the service, support and product that we give to new and long-term small- to medium-sized business owners are invaluable to them.”
Now, almost a year later, Janice is enjoying owning her own PEO and doing her part to encourage others who share her entrepreneurial spirit.
“There is never a dull moment!” she exclaims. “The fast pace is always changing and challenging. I also like the fact that our service supports the dreams of the entrepreneurs that make this awesome country of ours unique.”
Janice says that the growth opportunities for the PEO industry are great.
“The opportunities to grow are never ending,” she says. “It is what entices the entrepreneur in me.”
Along with the opportunities come certain challenges. Janice lists compliance, government control and the availability of workers’ compensation programs as issues she faces as a PEO owner. She finds that membership in FAPEO and NAPEO helps to mitigate threats to her business.
“I like having a Florida association that not only keeps you up-to-date on compliance issues in our own backyard but involves NAPEO so that we are current in all ways,” she explains. “I like that I feel I can call up and talk to someone if I need to. FAPEO makes you feel like you have someone in your corner that will help you get the information you need and point you in the right direction, even if they don’t have the answer.”
Janice has been married to Robert Legters for 23 years. Living so close to the Gulf of Mexico, the couple spends many weekends on their boat “tooling around the bay and inlet waters,” she says.
“We love to travel,” she says, “and I truly believe we live in the best place on earth. The Gulf Coast of Florida is unbeatable!”