Queen City startup plans 176 jobs

Springfield startup Your PAL Pro Inc. has plans to hire 176 employees during the next five years.

Founded in May by medical speech pathologist Dee Telting, Your PAL Pro — short for Your Personal Assistant for Living Professional — operates out of National Avenue Office Park, 1911 S. National Ave., across from Mercy Hospital Springfield. Your PAL’s system connects older adults and their families, as well as busy professionals, with on-demand transportation, tasks such as grocery shopping, and personal concierge services, including internet research and insurance navigation help. The company is setting up a network of caregivers to respond to requests, according to a news release and the company’s website.

“This service did not exist from one source, on-demand or from vetted professionals,” said Telting, the company’s CEO, in the release. “Many highly skilled health care and other professionals are not guaranteed 40-hour workweeks anymore and a second job is highly unlikely to pay an appropriate wage for their skills or be flexible enough to meet their ever-changing schedule.

“So, we developed a model that allows our clients and the PALs an on-demand solution that makes all lives better and easier as a result.”

The city of Springfield’s commercial loan program is helping Your PAL Pro with startup costs, equipment and working capital. Melissa Barton, commercial loan officer with the city, could not be reached by deadline on the terms of the loan.

Your PAL Pro is not Telting’s first startup. She also launched DiDe Health & Beauty Direct Inc. in 2012 and helped start Professional Advantage Leaders in 2006.

At Your PAL Pro, Telting runs the company with Chief Operations Officer Cynthia Reed and Chief Information Officer Mauri Decker.