“Published in the Winter 2015 FAPEO Update Newsletter”
Resource Management Inc. (RMI) is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. It’s a family celebration for founder and CEO Reinaldo Lopez as the entire Lopez family is involved in the business. Rey’s wife, Madeline, serves on the board of directors, as does one of their sons, Naldi. Their daughter, Rachel, is vice president and works as the manager of the implementation team. Alex is the operations manager, and Rey adds with a smile, “My little granddaughter is already telling me how to run the company.”
Whether or not Rey acts on any of his granddaughter’s advice remains a family secret, but it is no secret that RMI is a growing company that continues to build on a strong foundation of hard work and decisions arising out of Rey’s moral commitment to treating people fairly. Rey’s story begins in Puerto Rico.
“I was born in the beautiful island of Puerto Rico,” Rey says. “I migrated with my single mother to Massachusetts at age 9 and worked the tobacco farms in the summers. It was very hard work, but I learned from my mother that you can achieve if you don’t give up and are consistent in your efforts.”
Reinaldo (Rey) Lopez, CEO of Resource Management Inc.
Rey leveraged what he learned about hard work and consistent efforts into company ownership. The young entrepreneur owned maintenance and renovation service companies before he was recruited to do marketing for time and attendance systems in the New England market for a large company in the New York City area. This was in the early 1990s, and it was Rey’s first exposure to PEO.
“It turns out that the company was an employee leasing company,” Rey explains. “After my success in marketing the time and attendance product, they asked me if I would be willing to market employee leasing services.”
Rey’s answer to this question will resonate with his fellow PEO owners, who even today often hear, “Employee what? I never heard of that. Is it even legal?”
If this were a novel, Rey’s question about employee leasing might be considered foreshadowing. His experience at the company wasn’t, in itself, positive. But as is true for so many life events, a person’s response to difficulty often leads to better things and ultimately a positive outcome. Rey recalls how this was true for him and his family:
“The employee leasing company that recruited me was a bad player in the industry,” Rey explains. “It quickly defaulted on payments of WC, FUTA, SUTA and federal and state withholdings. This placed the clients that I had personally sold in Massachusetts in a very difficult situation.”
Rey’s personal ethics and commitment to hard work informed his decision to make things right for his clients.
“Although I personally had no legal responsibility to the clients, I felt I had a moral one,” Rey says. “So I cashed in my life insurance policy and paid for the outstanding taxes—and that is how RMI started.”
Rey says he still has some of the same clients dating from RMI’s inception in 1995. And the company has grown tremendously.
“RMI, like many other PEOs, has evolved from an employee leasing company to a true human resource outsourcing company,” Rey says. “We grew from me being the only employee and providing payroll and WC out of the basement of my house to having a strong medium-size PEO with fully staffed offices in Massachusetts, Florida and Texas.”
Rey adds with a broad if wry smile, “Internally we are large enough that the Affordable Care Act will affect us this year.”
In addition to its headquarters and offices in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, RMI has three offices in Florida (Orlando, Port Orange/Daytona and Doral/Miami) and a new office in San Antonio, Texas. Rey says that operating a multistate PEO is both exciting and challenging. He relies on an excellent staff and strategic partners to help deliver RMI’s services.
“I am grateful to our great staff and other strategic partners,” Rey says.
He gives special kudos to Prism HR, RMI’s vendor for HR software, saying “They have helped us make it simple.”
Rey is happy to be a part of the PEO industry, which he considers a unique player in the world of business.
“There is so much to enjoy about the PEO industry,” he says. “Very few industries can claim that they offer a true win-win-win proposition. Our worksite employees receive better benefits and protection, our clients are able to better compete in their chosen marketplace and the government agencies benefit from having funds due sent to them on a timely basis.”
Rey also points out the PEO industry is constantly evolving and says that this allows all who work within the PEO model to become experts in their field.
“There is so much potential for the PEO industry!” Rey exclaims. “With a constantly changing legislative environment and more demanding compliance requirements, PEOs are in a position to truly effect the success of the clients. As an industry we should be alert to our clients’ changing needs and find ways to meet them.”
With his 20 years of experience in PEO, Rey also clearly sees the threats to the industry, some external and some internal.
“I can see that there are threats to our industry,” he acknowledges. “These can arise out of ignorance or lack of knowledge as to the role we play in the employment arrangement. Some of the threats are self-imposed when our colleagues are willing to price their service at a cost so low that they themselves cannot afford to deliver what has been promised. We are a professional industry and must strive to achieve status as professionals.”
His participation with FAPEO is a logical extension of Rey’s commitment to professionalism.
Members of Rey Lopez’s family pictured here are Reinaldo Jr. (Naldi), little Reinaldo III (Tre), Madeline, Rachel, Illyana, Alex and Angela
“Having joined FAPEO was one of the wisest decisions I made in the PEO industry,” Rey says. “The level of resources and professionalism is unparalleled. Joining a team that is at such a high level allows me to grow, not only as a PEO operator but also as an individual.”
Rey and Madeline have been married 43 years, and their three children have given them four grandchildren.
“Speaking of the grandchildren, that is what I enjoy the most, spending time with them. The children are OK also,” Rey jokes.
RMI is a large supporter of local organizations in the communities where the company operates, including the United Way, Kissimmee Educational Foundation for which RMI helps provide scholarships for high school graduates to attend college and the Fitchburg Art museum, among many other community-based human services organizations.
“We also serve as a mentoring organization,” Rey says. “We bring interns from the local schools and adult training centers to work alongside our employees at RMI.”
