It’s unusual that senior executives at a tech company stay for any long period of time. More unusual is that they stay for over two decades. Yet that was the case with Adam Rogers who first joined Ultimate Software in 1997 and was just announced to be the Company’s co-CEO next to founder Scott Scherr. There must be something special about the company’s culture and it’s likely due to impressive leadership.
Up until recent, Adam was Ultimate Software’s CTO, a position he held for over 22 years. In that capacity he was and still is responsible for building and directing product strategy, development and delivery via cloud computing. He leads over 1,400 employees with a drive to deliver to the market the most advanced HCM solution in the cloud.
He was hired by Ultimate’s founder Scott Scherr, a man who lives and leads by a strong desire to trust and treat like family each and every one of his colleagues. From the beginning, he was determined to provide all the benefits he could to everyone, from health insurance to retirement savings. He was ahead of his time in cultivating diversity with two female co-founding colleagues and to this day a 50% organizational split between men and women.
Scott is known for an open door policy and his willingness to trust first. He hands out cards to his employees with one side saying “Trust” and the other “Forever”. The keys to his success in building a family culture stem from key learnings gained from watching his father who ran a small family business. Scott saw first-hand the importance of leading by example. And he developed a strong belief in treating everyone with dignity and respect. Thus Ultimate Software was founded with a “People First” ethos.
Scott is truly a leader of the modern era and represents the good in corporate America. He built a company with family values encouraging employees to bring their whole selves to work illustrated by companywide Communities of Interest that supports LGBTQIA individuals, women, veterans and active service members, and cancer patients, survivors and caregivers.
It’s no surprise Adam Rogers chose to stay working alongside Scott. The culture they built together and the special relationships that permeate their over 5,000 person ‘family’ would be hard to replicate anywhere else.
Ultimate Software was publicly traded until May of this year when private equity firm Hellman & Friedman bought the company for $11 billion. The Company was founded in 1990 and currently employs over 5,100 professionals.
