Our Management Team

Brent Tilson, CPA
President, CEO

As President, Brent has primary responsibility for the strategic direction of the company, accounting and finance, and information technology.

Brent is a certified public accountant and received his B.S. in Accounting from Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. He managed his own CPA firm working with small to mid-sized firms, and then, in 1995, he founded Tilson, which has become one of the leading human resources outsourcing firms in North America. Both he and the firm have received numerous awards and recognition.

Brent is recognized as a specialist in the human resources outsourcing and employee benefits field. He is a frequent speaker, author, and educator. Brent developed the Quad IV™ business model, which is the cornerstone of Tilson's services and solutions.

Jennifer Spurgin
Director of Operations

As our Director of Operations, Jennifer has a comprehensive line-of-sight to the various aspects of our business operations. She leads our new client transition team including overseeing the transition from start to finish.

Jennifer is one of Tilson’s first employees and is a member of the management team. She has successfully managed every area of operations including; new client enrollments, benefits administration, payroll and taxes and all aspects of client service.

Jennifer has over twenty two years of payroll and client service experience. Prior to joining Tilson HR, Jennifer spent eight years with Paychex, Inc. She was the first Senior Payroll Specialist for the Indianapolis branch and quickly became responsible for new client transitions. Before Paychex, Jennifer worked for her family’s nursing home starting as a nurse aide and worked her way up to bookkeeper. Jennifer has been with Tilson for fourteen years.

Annelisa Jamison
Department Head - Acounting & Payroll

Annelisa Jamison is the head of the Accounting and Payroll Departments. She is responsible for handling all areas of the accounting and payroll. Including accounts payable, accounts receivable, account reconciliations, bank reconciliations, cash management, corporate taxes, fixed assets, month-end process, payroll taxes, quality control of the payroll process and implementation of new payroll technology. Annelisa has been with Tilson HR since 2000.

Prior to joining Tilson HR, Annelisa was the assistant to the controller at a service company for six years. She was responsible for all aspects of the accounting department, including accounts receivable, account payable, corporate taxes, payroll taxes and payroll processing. Annelisa has over 19 years’ experience in the accounting field in various industries.

Annelisa has an Associate’s degree in accounting from the International School of Business.

Beth Baade-Hicks
Department Head - Benefits

Beth is the head of the Benefits Department, where she is responsible for Health Plan administration, 401(k) Plan administration and Employee Benefits Customer Service for Tilson employees. She leads a team of six Benefits Specialists and Associates.

Before joining the staff at Tilson, Beth was an Employee Benefits Senior Client Service Manager with Hylant Group for thirteen years. During that time, she worked with her clients to find the best benefit plan for their employees, negotiated rates with insurance carriers, monitored the performance of the plans, and provided customer service and claim issues assistance to her clients’ employees. Beth spearheaded the operation of the Small Business Unit at Hylant, where she and her team members provided Employee Benefits marketing, renewal and administration services to small businesses.

Beth earned the designation of Certified Employee Benefit Specialist in 2000, and holds a current Indiana Life/Health Insurance license.

She is pursuing her Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology at Indiana University, with a projected graduation date of May, 2010.

Dawn Lively, MBA, PHR
Senior Account Manager

Dawn Lively is a Senior Account Manager for Tilson HR. She has over nine (9) years experience in the field of human resources through her work experience, education and professional internships. Throughout her career, she has gained experience handling employee/employer investigations, advising on various regulatory compliance issues, constructing job descriptions, driving recruitment, conducting training and assisting employee development. She also has extensive consulting experience in policy and procedure development, employee surveys and developing internal and external compensation surveys.

Prior to joining Tilson HR, Dawn served as a human resources generalist at a third party management company for assisted living, nursing home, and home health entities, responsible for multiple facilities throughout Indiana. Dawn also interned with a consulting firm coordinating compensation structures and job descriptions for local governments, as well as with a company responsible for the recruitment and contracting of engineering employees.

Dawn received her Professional in Human Resources Certification from the Human Resources Certification Institute in 2002. She received her Masters in Business Administration summa cum laude from Indiana Wesleyan University in 2005, following a Bachelor of Arts in human resources management summa cum laude with Honors College Distinction from Ball State University in 2001.

Dennis Swearingen
Vice President of Sales

Dennis Swearingen is the VP of Sales, in which capacity he works to develop future business for Tilson HR in the areas of PEO, Human Resource Consulting, assessment products and professional recruiting.

Before joining the staff at Tilson HR, Dennis spent nearly nine years in the same industry at Professional Staff Management, serving in the capacity of HR Director, Executive VP of Operations and, most recently, President. His prior experience includes two years as an Accountant and nearly 12 years as Human Resources Manager in a number of manufacturing environments.

Dennis’ key qualifications in the human resources industry include years of HR experience in both non-union and union environments, successful contract negotiations, an unblemished record of defeating several arbitration cases and a number of years of managing the HR functions that are a critical part of Tilson HR’s service offerings, such as payroll and workers’ compensation administration, employee benefit plan design and administration and human resource consulting.

Dennis earned his Bachelor’s degree in accounting from Ohio University, where he was also a four year letterman as quarterback of the football team and earned honors on the Mid American Conference all-academic team.

Kimberly Hollis, REBC
Employee Benefit Consultant

Kimberly Hollis is a Registered Employee Benefit Consultant with over 20 years’ experience helping small- and mid-sized firms design, market and service their employee benefit plans. Kim assists our clients in the initial implementation and communication process, as well as coordinates renewals for benefits outside of Tilson.

Kim worked for an insurance agency in Louisiana for 19 years before moving to Indiana in August 2004. In addition to monitoring employee benefits for firms from two to 15,000 employees, she worked on estate planning for wealthy clients.

Kim earned her REBC through the American College. She is also a Certified Executive Assistant through the American College. She has an Associate’s degree in computer science from Southeastern Louisiana University, and is also a licensed life and health agent.

John Bush
IT Business Integration Manager

John Bush is the IT Business Integration Manager for Tilson HR. He serves as the lead advisor for technology and plays the principal role in the design, development and support for the implementation of new technology based solutions for the company.

Prior to joining Tilson HR in 2007 John worked for six years for a fully insured insurance carrier as their Manager of Expert System Development. He and the staff under his management were responsible for creating multiple internal applications and data conversion/translation systems.