Frank Pepe

“I didn’t know what great customer service was until Frank became our representative,” says Anne McKown, controller of Quality Temporary Services Inc., which places temporary workers, primarily in light industrial and school nutrition jobs, as well as substitute teachers. “He’s on top of everything related to our plan.”

Frank Pepe, senior plan consultant with Sentinel Benefits & Consulting Group, has served her company’s plan for two-and-a-half years. “My goal is to make her life easier as the plan sponsor, and it’s our responsibility to make sure our reporting can assist her,” he says.

Reporting can be complicated because the staffing company has about 15,000 employees on payroll each year, but only a small portion have worked long enough to be eligible for the plan.

“Not many hit the year-of-service requirements to participate—they may work for two weeks, leave, then come back,” Pepe says. “It’s a lot of tracking, and accuracy of data is very important. I have an amazing relationship with Anne—we work together to make sure our records are accurate, and she’s able to work with her employees and troubleshoot any issues in the enrollment process. We have to look at the ineligible employee group and see if they really are ineligible, or do they have the hours, or is there something missing in the data that needs to be reviewed?”

McKown appreciates his knowledge and responsiveness. “He’s more than just an account manager at our provider,” she says. “It’s as if he’s part of our team, just at a different location. I could not ask for a better customer service representative.”

—Kimberly Lankford