Tom Ryan
Acquisition Entrepreneur
I'm searching for a founder-owned regional PEO, ASO, or specialty HR services company to acquire and operate for the long term. My priority is continuity for your team and your clients.
A note to business owners
I've spent my career helping companies scale through HR process and system improvements, and I love this business for two reasons. The first is practical: outsourced HR is where small business owners get the most time back. The second is personal: there's real meaning in making sure employees get paid on time, stay safe on the job, and rest easy knowing their families are covered. That's work worth doing well.
You spent years building an excellent business. My promise is simple: I'll grow it with care, delight the customers who trust you, and empower the same team that helped mold it along the way. I aim to blend old-fashioned customer service and sales strategy with cutting-edge technology, automation, and AI.
Let's partner.
Target company parameters - overview
The right business matters more than fitting a precise box. If yours is close, I'd like to hear about it.
Investment thesis
I'm looking to acquire an outsourced HR or PEO business that pairs stable, recurring administrative revenue with a second, higher-margin engine: workers' comp underwriting and safety-driven loss reduction. The administrative services anchor predictable revenue, and the workers' comp economics compound into meaningful upside as client selection and processes sharpen with scale. For PEO client firms, it takes payroll, compliance, and the constant worry over comp claims off their plate, so they can focus on the work that actually grows the business.
As an owner, I plan to focus on expanding PEO offerings to small businesses in the trades, because that's where the model has the potential to solve the most significant pain point for client firms. These companies have high workers' compensation exposure and their experience modification rates swing year to year. Removing that volatility by partnering with PEO should be a no brainer for them, and while the risk scares off some generalist providers, I see it as an opportunity.
Thesis Highlights
Value creation leveraging technology
Background
Mercer is a Marsh McLennan subsidiary operating across 130 countries in benefits design, actuarial consulting, HR technology, and workforce strategy for organizations of every size, from small employers to the Fortune 500.
What Mercer builds bespoke for its largest clients — plan design, carrier negotiation, compliance infrastructure, risk management — a well-run PEO packages into one product for small employers who can't build it themselves. Same underlying services, different delivery model. Six years inside that world made the PEO opportunity obvious.
It also taught me how to sell. I carried a portfolio of more than 100 enterprise relationships and learned how to win clients and keep them.
Financing
If you own a PEO, ASO, or HR services business and have been thinking about what comes next, I'd like to hear from you. You don't need a decision made or a number in mind.
All conversations are confidential. If the timing isn't right today, I'll reach back out when it is.