About PPS Payrolls Meet The Team & Learn More About Us
Our History
Professional Payroll Services – a.k.a., “PPS”
Professional Payroll Services, better known as PPS, was formed in 2004 as the brainchild of Tom Perry and Jackie Simpson. During a chance encounter at a benefit golf tournament, the two business acquaintances began discussing the payroll industry and felt that a company with their combined knowledge and experience could be a successful venture. As the discussions progressed it was determined that there had to be a better way for a payroll service to operate than to try to sell on price alone and sacrifice customer service to have a high volume of clients. With this in mind, they created the core principle of PPS.
Fair Price
Offer a fair price for the service, but provide a “premium” level of client service. For this to be done, certain procedures would need to be followed. First, they determined they wanted the highest quality of employees. This would entail finding employees that were stable in their career outlook and that would enjoy working in the payroll industry.
Quality Results
The second procedure or policy would be to have slow but steady growth with good quality clients. Most payroll companies are now looking at payroll as a commodity and are selling to whoever will sign up for their service. The PPS model is different. PPS, by design, acquires most new clients through referral with very few clients that come to us through other channels. This provides for a client base that is more familiar with the product and is more likely to be a client for a long time.
Exceptional Service
Our third guiding principle is to give the highest level of client service available in the payroll industry. By doing this, PPS is able to retain our clients instead of “churning” them like some other bureaus. PPS would much rather grow by 30 new clients a year and keep them, than add 100 clients a year and lose half of them for one reason or another.
Meet The PPS Payrolls Team
Tom Perry – Owner/CEO
Tom founded PPS in the summer of 2004 after beginning his payroll career in 1998 as a sales manager, then progressing to operations manager. He is responsible for the overall operation of PPS and spends the majority of his time in company and client development. He also stays involved with the daily payroll processing in case a client has a question.
“Our clients like the fact that they can call me over any issue and I can help them resolve it.”
Sonja Wood – General Manager
Sonja joined PPS at our inception in 2004. She oversees the day-to-day operation of the office and is responsible for the majority of our tax work. Sonja holds a degree in Accounting and has over 14 years of experience in payroll and accounting. “I really enjoy working with our clients and learning about so many different businesses in our community”, she states.
“The great relationships I have built with our clients over the last few years mean a lot to me.”
Ariel Perry
Ariel has basically grown up in the PPS world. She started out working here part time in high school doing everything from emptying trash to filing paperwork. She began working full time in 2021. Working remotely from Nashville, she focuses on processing payroll and doing special projects. Outside of work she enjoys volunteering at the theater, attending Nashville Predators and Tennessee Titans games, and doing various arts and crafts. As a big country music fan, she attends as many concerts as she can. She also plays dog mom to Luna her spoiled rotten beagle/hound mix.
Her favorite part about working at PPS is the relationships she forms with colleagues and clients.
Frank Donoho
Frank has been with PPS since 2024. He handles all of our shipping and logistics along with processing payroll. He says
“I like to work at Professional Payroll Services because it has a productive and supportive atmosphere. We are all a team, and we help support each other. My coworkers are some of the best I have ever had the privilege to work with. Outside of work I mostly spend my time with family and Ollie (the best golden retriever ever). I like playing and listening to music, video gaming, trying new food and visiting new places.
Eniko Gahan
Eniko has been with PPS since 2022. In her time here, she has worked her way up to handling very complex clients and has built a knowledge base of articles to support clients. A native of Hungary, she moved to California at a young age, then on to Idaho, before landing here in Tennessee. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family and menagerie of animals, including many dogs, cats, chickens, and ducks. In addition, she volunteers as the treasurer and vice chair of the Watauga Volunteer Fire Department.
At PPS, she really enjoys working with her clients and getting to know them on a personal basis. She finds it very rewarding.
Sarah Matthews
Sarah is a native of East Tennessee and has been with PPS since 2018. She started her career at PPS as our receptionist, steadily moving up in her responsibilities, and is a key member of our staff, handling everything from our 401 (k) uploads to complex payrolls.
Sarah’s favorite thing about working at PPS is the skills developed over the years and the meaningful relationships she has built with her clients. She is passionate about helping others and continually growing both personally and professionally. Outside of the office, she enjoys spending time with her family (Ray (husband) and 4 kids; Alexus, Christian, Brayden & Brooklyn), watching Gilmore Girls, and supporting her favorite football and cheer teams. Sarah is passionate about her faith, loves all things Disney, and has a soft spot for the nostalgia of the ’90s. Fall is her favorite season, and she always look forward to the joy and celebration of the Christmas season each year.
Client Reviews – Your In Good Hands!
I have been working with PPS since their inception in 2004 and with Tom since 1998. They have provided great service along with state of the art software that makes my life...
PPS has greatly reduced my time spent on payroll and allowed me to focus on more important projects. HRNext has definitely been an added benefit and...
We began using PPS after many years with one of the large "National ” payroll companies. It was a change we are glad we made. Although the pricing at PPS was much less...