On Oct. 7, Springfield-based Penmac Staffing Services Inc. named out-of-state industry veteran Tim Massey its CEO. Massey brings 18 years of industry experience to the post, working the last nine years in Memphis, Tenn., over operations in six states for Northbrook, Ill.-based Paramount Staffing. In his new role, Massey splits duties with Paula Adams, who had held the CEO and president titles but now concentrates on day-to-day operations. With roughly 1,800 business clients and 18,000 employees, Massey has Penmac’s sights set on entering urban markets in the region.
Family Finders “I was actually contacted by a professional recruiting group that was retained by the company whenever they decided to search for someone to take over the role of CEO. … I wasn’t really looking to make a change. We were living in Memphis, Tenn., but my (wife’s parents) and my parents live in north-central Arkansas. Her parents live in Mountain Home, and my parents are from a small town south of Harrison. This was just a great opportunity to get back to an area we are familiar with. We haven’t lived here in quite some time, but still living close to the grandparents was always a goal.”
Paramount Duties “I spent almost nine years with (Paramount Staffing) and had responsibilities for Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, northern Mississippi, Georgia and New Jersey. Paramount is about the same size as Penmac, maybe a little smaller, but I managed a good portion of its revenue. ... It was a company that did a lot of different staffing but primarily was focused on the commercial/light industrial arena, which is much of what Penmac does.”
Beyond the Hogs “I graduated from the University of Arkansas. Out of school, I moved to Little Rock and started my career in sales, working for a national company called Inland Steel, which owned a subsidiary called Afco Metals. After a time with Afco, I thought I wanted to explore a job in pharmaceuticals, so I started working with a recruiter. Just by accident, she needed a fifth person for a staffing company in the area that was interviewing for a branch manager. She said, ‘I know this is not in your wheelhouse, but I’ve got to have a fifth person for them when they come to town. Do this favor for me and then we’ll work on your pharmaceutical thing.’ Well, one thing led to another, and three months later I was working in staffing, and I’ve been with it for 18 years now.”
Splitting the Load “(Paula Adams) is still responsible for the day-to-day operations, so the team that manages the branches still reports up to her. She manages the daily client relationships. My goals are focused on our strategies for growth: How do we take a $100 million company and turn it into a $150 million to $200 million company? What is the time frame for that, and what is our sales strategy to get there? Patti Penny did a really great job of building this company on tier-one service and focused not just on the clients but the employees as well. It’s her motto, ‘We place people first.’ I’m taking that strong foundation and driving it in a new direction, so that five years down the road we are maybe 50 percent to 75 percent bigger than we are now.”
Urban Opportunities “We are in some pretty small communities, which will always be a part of Penmac, but we are starting to look at some urban areas that we haven’t considered before. What would our growth strategy be for somewhere like Kansas City, St. Louis or possibly in Little Rock? There are a lot of opportunities and a lot of areas to look at. This has been considered in the past, but maybe we just didn’t have the right plans to get there. There was zero wrong with the operational side of the business, which made it attractive to me.”[[In-content Ad]]
