Stephanie Zakariasen

Stephanie has been with Advance for over 12 years, with six years as a FS Customer Service Supervisor before moving into her current role as a Relationship Manager. She started in invoicing and worked her way up through the department, from payroll to CSR to supervisor. This experience gave here a deep understanding of how all the different aspects of the business function, which enables her to help her clients with a wide variety of questions and requests. She loves problem solving, and doing the research to figure things out, and this role offers a lot of opportunity for that – it’s constant learning and growing, which keeps things fresh and interesting.

“I really focus on the Paychex values of Partnership and Service, as we have an amazing team here, always willing to help each other out and work collaboratively to solve problems, and customer service is the main goal of that teamwork. I enjoy working with my clients, building relationships and trust, and being a solid partner they can count on.”

She loves traveling, and has lived in or visited over 20 countries. She spent four years living in Europe, most of it in France: “I loved the time there. The food, architecture, art and languages are all very appealing to me, but ultimately there’s nothing like home and I came back to the US a few years before moving to Cleveland.” Her family origins are Scandinavian, so her two most recent international trips were see the glaciers, waterfalls, lagoons, and fjords of Norway and Iceland. She is married with two 3.5-year-old twins running around and talking up a storm.

Favorite food: cheese (especially triple-cream French cheeses, lol)

Favorite movie: Princess Bride or Inception

Favorite hobby: reading and traveling

Read Insights from Stephanie Zakariasen

  • The Hardest Call in Security: Passing on a Profitable Contract Because You Can’t Fund Payroll
    The call comes in: an enterprise property group needs 30 armed officers across five new locations starting next Monday. It’s a game-changing contract, the kind that can transform your security firm’s entire year. The revenue potential is massive—until your CFO points out that funding six weeks of officer payroll out-of-pocket before the first client payment…
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  • What Lenders Look for When Funding Staffing & Recruitment Agencies
    What Lenders Look for When Funding Staffing & Recruitment Agencies When a staffing firm seeks funding, lenders and financing partners look past the top-line revenue and focus on one thing: risk. The staffing industry’s unique business model—with its weekly payroll obligations and long client payment cycles—presents a different risk profile than almost any other business….
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  • When Success Causes Friction: The Limits of Traditional Bank Financing for Fast-Growing Staffing Firms
    Your enterprise staffing firm just secured a transformative contract—a multi-year agreement to place 300 healthcare or IT contractors. It’s the kind of win that defines a company’s trajectory. You call your commercial banker to discuss the working capital needed to support the massive increase in weekly payroll, only to be told your line of credit…
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  • The Hidden Challenge of Security Operations: Managing the Back Office
    The Hidden Challenge of Security Operations: Managing the Back Office Winning a contract for 50 armed officers across multiple commercial facilities is a victory—until the back-office reality sets in. Managing complex shift differentials, state-by-state guard card compliance, overtime rules, and weekly payroll can quickly overwhelm an agency’s administrative team. Many security business owners start out…
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  • When Winning Big Threatens Your Bottom Line: The Cash Flow Challenge of Security Volume Spikes
    When Winning Big Threatens Your Bottom Line: The Cash Flow Challenge of Security Volume Spikes Picture this: An unexpected storm hits in the Southeast, creating an emergency demand for 200 security officers across retail and critical infrastructure sites. The holiday shopping season requires you to triple your unarmed guard posts overnight. The revenue potential is…
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    The Risk of Leveraged Funding: Why Your Partner’s Cost of Capital Limits Your Growth
    The Hidden Ceiling: How Your Funding Partner’s Capital Structure Dictates Your Growth Picture this: Your staffing firm just landed a massive account—a 500-contract-worker deployment for a Fortune 500 client. You call your payroll funding provider to increase your credit line, only to hear the words that can stall a business in its tracks: “We can’t…
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  • The Practical AI Playbook for Staffing Firm Leaders
    In this webinar replay, marketing and AI expert Jeff Staats offers a free educational webinar designed specifically for staffing firm leaders who want to leverage AI with confidence—not confusion. In this webinar recording, you’ll learn how to cut through the noise and identify practical ways AI can help your team work smarter, improve efficiency, and…
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  • Disaster Recovery Team

    The Calm Before the Storm: Financial Preparedness for Hurricane and Wildfire Seasons
    Staffing firm owners have, on average, about 15 million things on their plate. It’s no wonder marketing sometimes takes a backseat. With lean staff and budgets, and time constraints, it’s often the first thing to get cut. You’ll get more business, you might think, by just focusing on sales.
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  • FEMA & Utility Staffing Contracts: Financial Best Practices
    Staffing firm owners have, on average, about 15 million things on their plate. It’s no wonder marketing sometimes takes a backseat. With lean staff and budgets, and time constraints, it’s often the first thing to get cut. You’ll get more business, you might think, by just focusing on sales.
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  • Managing Cash Flow During Disaster Staffing Surges
    Staffing firm owners have, on average, about 15 million things on their plate. It’s no wonder marketing sometimes takes a backseat. With lean staff and budgets, and time constraints, it’s often the first thing to get cut. You’ll get more business, you might think, by just focusing on sales.
    Read More >
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    How to Calculate the Ideal Working Capital Ratio for Staffing Firms
    Staffing firm owners have, on average, about 15 million things on their plate. It’s no wonder marketing sometimes takes a backseat. With lean staff and budgets, and time constraints, it’s often the first thing to get cut. You’ll get more business, you might think, by just focusing on sales.
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  • Net 30 vs. Net 60 vs. Net 90: How Payment Terms Impact Staffing Agency Growth
    Staffing firm owners have, on average, about 15 million things on their plate. It’s no wonder marketing sometimes takes a backseat. With lean staff and budgets, and time constraints, it’s often the first thing to get cut. You’ll get more business, you might think, by just focusing on sales.
    Read More >