Scott Scherr, founder at Ultimate Software, to retire
Scott Scherr, who founded Ultimate Software, one of South Florida’s most successful technology companies, will retire Jan. 1, the Westonbased company announced Wednesday.
Adams Rogers, who has been co-CEO with Scherr since the company went private in April through an $11 billion sale, will become CEO on Jan. 1. Ultimate Software employs 1,650 people in Weston.
The maker of payroll and other human resources software said transition of leadership to Rogers from Scherr has been happening over several years. Rogers, a 22-year employee at Ultimate Software, was chief technology officer for 12 years before he was named co-CEO in June.
Scherr founded Ultimate Software in 1990, leading it to grow from four employees to more than 5,000 employees and more than $1 billion in revenue. He established a “People First” philosophy, meaning its employees come first, and the company saw the results awards.
The company offers a wide range of employee benefits, including restricted stock upon hiring. That benefit, along with stock awards for performance, made millionaires of out of long-term employees when the company was sold. Stockholders received $331.50 in cash for each share of Ultimate’s common stock when the company was sold to San Francisco-based private equity firm Hellman & Friedman.
Ultimate Software was one of three South Florida in top company companies ranked among the 2019 “100 Best Companies to Work For” by Fortune, and topped Fortune’s “Best Workplaces in Technology”
in 2019.
In 2016, Scherr was named the No. 2 CEO in the U.S. by job-search site Glassdoor.