Paul Altavena

Co-Founder & Strategic M&A | ConnectPay Payroll Services

Paul Altavena has spent nearly five decades building, scaling, and acquiring payroll businesses — and he still isn’t done. As Co-Founder and Lead in Strategic M&A Engagement of ConnectPay Payroll Services, Paul leads the company’s M&A strategy with a singular focus: acquiring independent payroll service bureau client books and preserving what their owners spent a lifetime building.

Paul’s payroll roots run deep. He joined Paychex in 1979 as part of the management team that helped build the Boston region, contributing to the company’s 1983 IPO. That early experience lit a fire that never went out. In 1998, he founded Advantage Payroll Services of Michigan, grew it into a thriving regional bureau, and sold it to Paychex in 2008 — his second successful exit from the industry.

Between those chapters, Paul demonstrated he was more than a payroll guy. He co-founded Safesite Records Management Corp in 1986, built it into a market leader, and sold it to Iron Mountain (IRM) in 1997. He also consulted for Fortune 100 companies — including a comprehensive payroll and HR operations study for Kmart — and worked alongside industry firms including ADP, Success Factors, and Tesseract Technology.

In 2008, rather than retire after the Advantage Payroll sale, Paul co-founded ConnectPay. Over the past decade-plus, he has led the acquisition of independent service bureau client books across the country — giving retiring and transitioning bureau owners a trusted, professionally managed exit. ConnectPay’s platform is purpose-built for exactly this audience: payroll professionals who understand what it takes to earn a client’s trust and want that legacy to continue.

Paul is also a Varkrz Chair, facilitating a CEO peer group for executives in the payroll services industry. He is a graduate of Syracuse University (1977) and a strong supporter of The Evans Scholars Foundation.