Jason Poling, Chief Financial Officer

As Chief Financial Officer, Jason Poling oversees payroll administration operations for the company's more than 200 payroll clients and co-owns the company with partners Jason Carpenter, Richard Tatum and Veronica Franks.

Jason planned to pursue a career in medicine until a cell biology class in Lipscomb University's Pre-Med program convinced him to reconsider. When his father, a reporter for CBS News, suggested getting a business degree, Jason double majored in accounting and economics/finance. During the summers, he owned and operated a successful business installing sound systems in theaters on college campuses.

After earning his Bachelor's degree from Lipscomb University, Jason sold the sound system business and went to work as an accountant for Faulkner, Mackie & Cochran, a CPA firm in Nashville. Though he enjoyed his work helping small business owners, something was missing. ""It was equity," he recalls. "I wanted to own my own company again."

In 2001, the opportunity appeared. "I was Jason Carpenter's accountant and I got to know a lot about his pension consulting business," he remembers. "One day we started brainstorming about all the services a new company could offer to offload administrative burdens from pension clients." Six months later, Jason launched Midsouth Payroll Solutions.

"I like everything about being a business owner, especially the big-picture tasks like strategy, forecasting and systems design," adds Jason. "It makes you feel good at the end of the day when you come up with a solution that makes your client's eyes light up."

When he's not designing payroll solutions, Jason belongs to the Loveless Group, an investment club he founded six years ago. He also donates his time to Youth Encouragement Services, an organization that works with inner city children. His hobbies include reading and golf. Jason and his wife, Charlotte, have two sons, Ethan and Charlie.