About PuzzleHR
Human Resources as a Service
HR Solutions that Drive Business Growth
We are America’s premier provider of HR Solutions as a Service (HRaaS); we understand the complexities of today’s business environment and how they can hinder growth. We know that employers face the challenging task of balancing:
- Business Needs
- Employee Expectations
- Compliance with Government Regulations
Our Leadership Team
Lonny Ostrander
Lonny began his career as the owner of a boutique consulting firm in Palm Beach, Florida before taking his talents to Paychex in 1991. During his 28 year career there, Lonny served Paychex in multiple capacities and his accomplishments include leading the successful integration of the National Business Solutions PEO. Eventually Lonny was named an Officer of Paychex and Executive Vice President of the Human Resource Services division. Lonny retired from Paychex in 2016 and Co-Founded Pygmalion Consulting Group, a leading HCM Sales Consulting Firm. One of PuzzleHR’s Co-Founders, Lonny will serve as the company’s Chief Executive Officer.
Lonny is a proud Alum of the University of South Florida, and with his wife Jennifer and his daughters, Alexa and Angelica, splits time between their homes in Tampa, Florida and Blue Ridge, Georgia.
Chris Timol
Chris Timol is a seasoned executive with 30 years of experience in Human Resource Leadership. A native of New York City, he graduated from Pace University and began his career as an individual contributor at Paychex in the early ’90s. Throughout his career, Chris has held numerous senior leadership positions, including Officer and Executive Vice President of Sales. In addition to his experience at Paychex, Chris has served as the Chief Revenue Officer for a number of HCM software firms. He is known for his belief that with “Ambition, Attitude, Activity, and Accountability,” everyone can reach their full potential. As one of the two co-founders of PuzzleHR, Chris leverages his extensive experience as President and Chief Operating Officer to drive the company’s growth and success.
Justin Nikolich
Justin has over a decade of experience in financial services, starting with PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2009. He excelled in audit and advisory work for hedge funds, private equity funds, and real estate funds, eventually becoming an audit senior manager. Justin’s expertise includes real estate assets, exotic securities, financial analysis, and option-pricing models. He has also taught complex valuation and financial topics as a lead instructor.
Later, Justin served as CFO for middle market a private equity real estate investment firm, where he grew the company from $10MM to $50MM in value over three years. He was responsible for financial governance, capital raising, and strategic planning.
Justin holds Bachelors and Masters of Accounting degrees from the University of South Florida and is a registered CPA in Florida. He serves on the boards of OnBikes, Inc and the University of South Florida Accounting Advisory Board. In his free time, Justin enjoys the outdoors with his family and serves as an adjunct professor at the University of South Florida.
Connor Esrick
Connor joins the Puzzle team with a unique background in the financial industry. Connor started his career in the Silicon Valley Venture Capital space and recently transitioned into Middle Market Private Equity. He spends much of his time working on day to day problem solving with current portfolio investments to learn more about different sectors, emerging markets and new technologies. Connor brings his passion for start-ups, growing companies and innovative technology solutions to Puzzle as the Director of Business Development.
Connor is a graduate of the University of Miami, and a resident of Palm Beach, Florida.
Marion Hawkins
Marion D. Hawkins has more than 30 years’ experience leading both sales and operations teams to excellence. She started her career with Paychex in the payroll department and moved through the leadership ranks where she led departments in their corporate office then the last 14 years she led the National PEO sales team. At PuzzleHR she has held the roles of VP of Operations, VP of Customer Success (SE) and Chief of staff. As Chief of Staff she is responsible for executing corporate vision and objectives. Marion’s consistent focus on change leadership, employee engagement, process improvement and sales acceleration makes her the perfect fit for PuzzleHR.
Marion and her husband Larry have two sons (Larry and Patrick) and five grandchildren (Alex, Anthony, Mya, Jack and Oliver). She is a passionate animal lover and she volunteers for CJ Paws, an animal emergency rescue organization. A native of Rochester, NY, Marion now lives in Saint Petersburg, Florida (a slice of heaven).
Jonathan Boehmer
Jonathan Boehmer is graduate of The Catholic University of America and served in the United States Marine Corps and is a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Jonathan began his 20 year professional career at Paychex in 2001 as a Client Service Representatives for Paychex’ Administrative Services Organization (ASO). After a short time, Jonathan moved into sales and the sales leadership and is recognized as one of the early thought-leaders in the HR outsourcing industry and has spent his entire career in the ASO and PEO industry. Jonathan later established Porchlight Management Group, an independent HCM and HR consulting company and he will bring his talents to PuzzleHR as Vice President of Customer Success, East.
Jonathan currently resides in Boston, MA with his wife Cynthia, and his two children, Sophia and Jack
Joe Daggar
Joe joined Puzzle with 27 years of operations leadership experience in the HCM industry and 2 years on a cross-functional leadership assignment in HR. At Paychex his experience included successfully leading and scaling teams across the operations division in various phases of the organizational life cycle (launch, scaling and turnaround). His numerous leadership assignments included being: a member of the leadership team that launched the Paychex Retirement Services division, the first leader (and employee) in the Online Services division and selected to improve the performance of the 450-employee National Client Onboarding team. Much of his success in leading and rapidly-scaling these organizations came through the application of technology-enabled process excellence. This blend of operational, leadership and technology experince positions him well to lead Puzzle’s Technology and Enablement team.
Joe lives in the Finger Lakes region of western New York,, not far from his alma mater St. John Fisher University, with his wife Diana, son Rhett and daughter Lauren.
Illya Granger
Illya Granger has more than 20 years’ experience building and leading organizations focused on service delivery and operational excellence. He started his career with Paychex in the world of Human Resource Services, including Section 125, Health Benefits and Retirement Services. During his time with Paychex he lead several large organizations across the enterprise, including a hybrid service and technology team focused on large scale HCM migrations. In May 2019 he joined Calero-MDSL as Vice President and General Manager. He lead a key business unit servicing some of the largest global companies in the world. Illya’s experience and results leading large multi-service organizations positions him well to help PuzzleHR’s mission. As Vice President of Service Operation, he is focused on building a top tier service culture designed to help Puzzle’s customer transcend their Human Resources progams.
Illya currently resides in West Henrietta NY, with his wife Gina and two children Koby and Isabella
Jay Millstead
Jay Millstead is an experienced global executive with expertise in organizational design, executive sponsorship, and management consulting. Jay delivers stellar customer experiences, sustained business growth, and collaborative solutions, particularly in the Technology and Healthcare sectors. A skilled puzzle-solver and people-builder, Jay simplifies complex problems and articulates solutions effectively. With a focus on change management, collaboration, leading transformation and strategic communications, Jay has developed peak-performing organizations across diverse industries. At Ceridian, Jay led successful implementation organizations in Mid, Large, and Enterprise Segments, built scalable Managed Services operations models, transformed customer satisfaction scores, and drove impressive YoY growth. Jay also played a crucial role in launching a new line of business focused on Private Equity for Ceridian. With solid business acumen and a passion for servant leadership, Jay is results-driven and known for fostering high-performance cultures. As PuzzleHR’s Vice President of HCM Services, Jay is responsible for strategic planning and operational management to drive success and sustainable growth, positioning PuzzleHR as the leader in the HR-as-a-Service space.
Jay is a proud graduate of the University of Louisville and now resides in Nashville, Tennessee, with his wife and children Walker (DIL Apryl), Yulia, Toli, Tainey and Hudson. He enjoys reading and spending time outdoors with his family in his spare time, including his new grandson, Oliver.
Rebecca Burbridge
Rebecca joins Puzzle as Vice President of Customer Success, West with over 29 years of broad experience helping businesses achieve their goals through strategic management of their human capital. She most recently served for 14 years with Paychex, Inc. in senior leadership roles within their ASO/PEO, Retirement Planning and Payroll divisions. She has a track record of demonstrated leadership through developing national award-winning teams and consultants. Rebecca brings a wealth of client-centric human capital experience across recruiting and HR Consulting, which positions Puzzle to respond to our clients’ need for strategic HR solutions.
Rebecca attended Montana State University with a focus in Business Administration and HR. She has made her home in the beautiful state of Colorado with her husband, Patrick. Rebecca also stays busy volunteering in her community with Hospice and SECOR (South East Community Outreach).
Our Mission
Our Mission
To become the world’s most influential HR Process Outsourcing firm, helping companies harness the power of Human Resources to drive business results. Our HR professionals help clients create and implement the strategies that attract and retain Top Talent, stay compliant with local and federal regulations, and become an Employer of Choice.
Our Promise
Our Promise
At PuzzleHR, we promise to optimize your people processes in a way that serves to create and maintain a motivating environment for your employees, increasing engagement and decreasing turnover.
Our Role
Our Role
We fill the gaps in your under-resourced HR department, whatever they may be. From high level strategy to tactical execution, our team has the skillset and experience to handle each piece of the HR puzzle.
Our Enemy
Our Enemy
The sub-optimized HR department, pushing paper and executing functions inefficiently. We elevate and resource the HR department such that it can truly make companies better.
Culture
At PuzzleHR, we are focused on providing a positive workplace culture in which every team member can thrive. The emphasis we put on recognizing each and every individual team member results in a progressive environment that promotes open communication, teamwork, and individual empowerment that ultimately pushes the status quo.
Whether we’re sending you a treat for your birthday or a care package when you’re under the weather, we understand the importance of cherishing the people who complete our internal puzzle. Our organization is built on the basis of curating a team specific to your needs that allows for your organization to thrive. That being said—our success-driven and innovative team members are wholeheartedly, our most valuable resource.