Ascentis Announces Walter Turek As New Executive Chairman

Online, December 7, 2011 (Newswire.com) - The board of directors of Ascentis Corporation, a market leader in easy-to-use human resources software, online payroll services, and HCM solutions today announced that Walter Turek has been named executive chairman of the board.

Previously, Turek served as senior vice president of sales and marketing for Paychex, Inc., a publicly traded, leading provider of payroll, human resource services, and benefits outsourcing solutions for small-to-medium-sized businesses, located in Rochester, N.Y. During his 27-year career at Paychex, Turek provided the sales leadership and marketing innovation to help grow the company to more than 500,000 clients with revenues of approximately $2 billion and a market capitalization of approximately $10 billion. Turek also served as president of Stromberg, a provider of time and labor workforce management solutions, and as president of Rapid Payroll, a payroll software company, both of which were wholly-owned subsidiaries of Paychex. Turek currently serves on the board of directors for Mykonos Software, Blue Tie, and Greenway Medical Technologies.

"I am grateful for the opportunity to join an organization that has an established culture dedicated to new client growth and retention, a high level of service to its client base, and new product development and innovation. I have been fortunate to be an influential part of high growth organizations and expect to bring the same dedication and passion to my role as executive chairman of Ascentis," said Turek.

"I can think of no one more qualified than Walter Turek to drive the growth of Ascentis," said Brad Palmer, chairman of Palm Ventures and Ascentis board member. "He brings a unique set of skills, talent, and experience that make him an outstanding leader in a dynamically evolving industry." Other Ascentis board members include Joseph Melone, former chairman and CEO of the Equitable Life Insurance Company, and Glenn Marschel, former president of Employer Services at ADP.

According to a 2011 report by IBIS World titled HR & Payroll Software in the US: Market Research Report, in the five years leading up to 2016 it is estimated that revenue for the human resource and payroll software industry will increase at an average annual rate of 5 percent to $4 billion. The report also states that the industry will benefit from increasing private investment in computers and software and the further adoption of the software as a service (SaaS) business model.