Kenneth Madley

I started as an HR and Payroll practitioner at GE Capital in early 1980's in St. Petersburg, FL.  I moved into HR and Payroll Software after that with Best Software (Abra) - also in Florida - for about 12 years.  2000 marked the big Y2K event which made software sales easy.  Y2K also brought around the great PC Accounting Software Consolidation.  If you had a PC based Accounting System that ran on a wide area network, you were eventually bought out by Microsoft or Sage (from the UK).  Abra worked with all of these accounting systems, so we expected to see the same buyout option.  While it was not what any of us had hoped for, Sage ended up buying Best Software/Abra, then sold off the SQL applications because they were too technical for them to manage.  That sale resulted in Abra SQL being sold to Kronos, who decided in the early 2000's to add HCM to their timekeeping application. I left Sage and Abra at that time to continue my support of the Abra SQL application with Kronos.  I spent almost 19 years at Kronos, engaged in Pre Sales for all of their HCM offerings.  This included Workforce Ready during the last few years of my tenure. 

At Best/Abra/Sage; I provided Pre Sales Support for our Business Partner Channel.  This included marketing, demonstrations, version upgrades, and new product rollouts.  I attended trade shows, I demoed directly to customers and partners, I helped install product on computers and servers.  Best sold very little direct, so our connection to sales and marketing happened with the channel.  They were a fantastic group to work with.

Kronos never used partners.  The sold everything direct - from hardware to software.  Integration between Abra SQL and Kronos Timekeeping was important early on - until Kronos had a chance to rewrite some of the UI portions of the software.  We stayed in all facets of HCM; HR, Payroll, Recruiting, Onboarding, Position Management, Training, Compliance, Self Service and more.  We also supported a vast number of verticals like Healthcare, Retail, Public Sector, Manufacturing, Service, Distribution, and Banking/Finance.  I managed small teams in HCM and Retail, while being an individual contributor in other areas.

About 3 years ago, Kronos merged with Ultimate Software (now UKG).  Management and company direction changed significantly.  Those of us near 60 were pushed to take an early retirement from the newly merged company.  I rejected the offer.  After doing so my job responsibilities changed significantly as did the way we were managed.  Evidently, many of us rejected the early retirement offer because UKG swept back through and laid a few thousand of us off.  Disappointing after putting 20 years into an organization, but that's what happens after these mergers and change in culture.

I am nowhere near retiring and would like to stay in the HCM industry.  I am a Clearwater native, old enough to know that Montgomery Wards used to be on the grounds of the Clearwater Frank Crum offices (LOL).  If my resume could stay with some of the recruiters, I hope that a position could be found for me at the company.

After college, worked for GE Capital as Operations Manager which included Payroll (ADP and Kronos) and HR (ADP). GE was very strict with their rules and compliance.  I learned a great deal out of the box with this job. After 6 years, GE sold off the business I was in, so I searched for an alternative.

From GE, I moved to Best Software to work with their Abra product. It was full HCM including Payroll.  I did Presales Support for their Business Partner Channel.  I worked for Best for 12 years.

The Abra Enterprise or Abra SQL product was sold off to Kronos.  Abra SQL was full HCM and also included payroll.  I was heavily involved in this product design, creation and launch.  I left Abra to go to Kronos to support this product.  I was at Kronos for almost 20 years working with the Abra SQL product (and integration), as well as a newer HCM Kronos Product called Workforce Ready.

I grew up in Clearwater and graduated from Clearwater Central Catholic.  From CCC, I attended St. Pete College taking basic college courses while I tried out for several college soccer teams.  After a year, I received a scholarship at Aurora University in West Chicago Illinois.  I attended Aurora as a Pre Med Major with a Sports Medicine Minor.  I went to school at Aurora and played soccer for several years, but did not graduate.