Bob Funk Sr. stepping down as CEO of Express
Funk will remain as president
Bob Funk Sr., cofounder of Express Employment Professionals, is stepping down as CEO and is being replaced by Bill Stoller after resolution of a yearslong legal battle between the partners that included allegations Funk diverted $134 million of company funds for personal use.
Terms of the settlement are sealed. Funk, 77, will take on the title of president and board vice chairman of the Oklahoma City company that employs 250. Stoller, 67, takes over as CEO and board chairman effective Monday.
The change in titles was first sought as part of a lawsuit filed by Stoller eight years ago in which he claimed Funk diverted company funds in the form of unauthorized loans that were used to pay expenses for his franchises and purchase a 160,000-acre cattle ranch in New Mexico.
Neither Funk nor Stoller would comment on the details of the settlement.
On Friday, Funk’s attorney Kent Gardner said that there were no improprieties in the transactions.
The terms of which were sealed but briefly published as part a franchise filing with the state of Wisconsin. That filing, reported by the Portland Business Journal, revealed Funk was required to turn the ranch over to the company, pay $30 million in deferred compensation to Stoller, and agree to Stoller taking over as CEO. The agreement was signed on May 19, 2014.
Stoller said Friday he saw no need to amend that agreement.
“Bob and I have been partners for 35 years,” Stoller said. “He’s like a brother to me. We agreed to this transition 4 ½ years ago and I have nothing but admiration for the years of service and leadership Bob gave this company. I have no doubt we can continue to be great partners.”
Funk on Friday sent out a memo to employees and franchisees indicating the transition is not without some disagreement.
“For the past several months, I have worked alongside leadership in an attempt to create a unified transition plan,” Funk wrote in the memo. “Sadly, the ideas offered to help ensure a seamless transition were rejected. Now I am stepping down as CEO to a new role as your president and executive vice chairman.”
Funk declined an interview with The Oklahoman, but provided a statement that the company’s mission and operation are unchanged.
“There will be continuity,” Funk said. “It’s business as usual at Express, and that’s good for both business and for all our people.”
Stoller has homes in Oklahoma City and Vancouver, Washington.
Stoller promises that Express Employment Professionals’ home office will remain in Oklahoma City, which he calls his “second home.”
“Nothing changes,” Stoller said. “The headquarters stays here. My wife is from here. I’m comfortable here. I enjoy being here. We have a great office, great staff and great people. There isn’t a reason to make any change.”
Stoller is not as well known as Funk, but the pair’s partnership goes back to the early 1980s when they both worked with Acme Personnel.
“They ran into financial trouble and in 1983 that prevented them from going forward. Bob gave me a call, along with a third person out of Boulder, Colorado, Jim Gray, and he had software that did payroll,” Stoller said. “And he was in the temporary staffing business of his own.”
The three built the business for several years by selling franchises to people formerly associated with the defunct Acme operation. In 1989, the company consolidated operations and moved its headquarters to Oklahoma City. The next year, Stoller and Funk bought Gray’s shares in the company.
Funk has served as CEO since that time, actively promoting the company and becoming the face of Express.
“Bob has been our CEO,” Stoller said. “But as equal partners we’ve worked together, made decisions together and treated each other as equal partners. That’s the way it’s been. You can only have one CEO in a company, and I’ve always deferred to Bob. And Bob has been more out there. I’m not one who has always been in the limelight — it doesn’t make that much of a difference to me.”
That arrangement changes this week with the new titles agreed upon four years ago as part of settlement talks.
“He will be an adviser,” Stoller said. “He will be the head of our executive committee, which will report to me. He will continue, just in a different seat.”
Express Employment Professionals reported sales in 2017 hit an all-time high of $3.4 billion with 800 franchises in 49 states, Canada and South Africa.
“I see continued growth,” Stoller said. “We have a lot of offices that are fairly new and we want to see those continue growing. I think we can significantly grow in South Africa and Canada.”