Jay Starkman

Jay is the founder and CEO of Engage PEO.

In 2011, after more than two decades marked by substantial achievement within and outside of the PEO industry, Jay set out to build a new kind of PEO where quality service would be the driving focus of everything. That PEO is Engage. Today, Engage is one of the fastest growing companies in the country.

Before forming Engage, Jay was president and CEO of AlphaStaff, a PEO which he grew from a small player to a top five industry leader. The then fastest growing PEO under his leadership, Jay sold the company in 2008 to a private equity group, creating a large return on investment for company shareholders. Jay also previously served as president and CEO of OneChem, a software application provider to the chemical industry.  

In addition to his corporate leadership success, Jay had a distinguished legal career, serving as the managing partner of his own firm, which specialized in employment and commercial law, arguing seminal cases as high as the United States Supreme Court. Jay served as a member of the board of directors of ESAC (Employee Services Assurance Corporation), the accrediting body for the PEO industry. He also served on the board of the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations (NAPEO).

Jay has received numerous awards in recognition of his business accomplishments, including the Gold Stevie® Award for Executive of the Year in the 2015 American Business Awards. He also received Florida’s Top Entrepreneur Award from Florida Business Leader; named HRO Top Superstar by HRO Today, and a Florida TrendSetter by Florida Trend. A frequent writer and expert commentator on a wide range of HR and legal compliance issues, Jay is a contributing writer for The American City Business Journals, Employee Benefits News, Insurance Advocate, and other HR and insurance industry publications.