Three months after his much ballyhooed promotion to Co-CEO, Paycom announced Friday that Chris Thomas is no longer co-leading Oklahoma’s flagship tech company.
As now-solo CEO Chad Richison said three months ago, Chris was “instrumental in helping build Paycom into the world-class HR and payroll software company it is today,” so his sudden departure seems like a pretty big deal.
Here’s their internal company announcement:
Yep, Chris left thanks to “personal reasons.”
Sure, that may be an intentionally vague and overused excuse that corporations typically use to dodge questions and avoid answers, but I guess it is better than “abstract,” “impractical,” or “downright silly" reasons to quit.
“Chad, I’m putting in my two weeks' notice today.”
“What?! Why?! You just started three months ago! This will look awful.”
“I like beans.”
In all seriousness, I legitimately hope Chris isn’t dealing with anything dreadful or awful, and even though I have no real clue what happened, this does look and feel like the Co-CEO experiment wasn’t working out.
For example, check out the other news Paycom announced Friday:
Paycom Software, Inc. announced that Randy Peck, a 20-year Paycom veteran, has been appointed as Chief Operating Officer, while Matt Paque and Jennifer Kraszewski have been promoted to Chief Legal Officer and Chief Human Resources Officer, respectively.
“These promotions align with our ambition to continue to help Paycom and our clients win,” said Paycom founder, CEO, President, and Chairman of the Board of Directors, Chad Richison. “Each of these leaders has demonstrated the aptitude to serve in his or her new capacity. We believe our refreshed leadership team will continue to elevate the culture and client experience that we have been known for since 1998. Our expectations at Paycom are high because we are an innovative leader in software and service.”
How convenient! Right after Chris resigned, they had a whole new leadership structure ready to go!
Anyway, I do have one question here:
If “The expectations at Paycom are high,” why not just bring aboard a brand new sole CEO with an impressive background working in SaaS industry to try and turn things around?
I know CEO Chad Richison is a hall-of-fame businessman and has done a great job building Paycom into the arena sponsor it is today, but the company seems to have hit a plateau.
They admit their product sucks, employee morale is shaky, and their stock price is at a five-year low. It makes you wonder if maybe it’s time for Richison to step down as CEO for "personal reasons" and be content simply serving as Chairman of the Board, or better yet, Governor of Oklahoma.
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We’ll keep you advised.
