Stonebridge Partners HR

Stonebridge Partners is a small business built to serve small businesses. Our focus is simple — provide smarter, fairer solutions for benefits, staffing, and payroll, while keeping people and relationships at the center of everything we do. We understand the challenges owners face because we face them too — and that’s exactly why we care a little more, respond a little faster, and always put integrity before profit.

Co-Founder

Audience & Income

Member

Elite PEO LLC

Directed Elite PEO to 3 consecutive years of over $50M ARR, with yearly increases of 12%+.

Planned, directed and oversaw Elite PEO's operational policies, rules, initiatives, and goals. I helped the organization execute long-term and short-term plans and directives by implementing judgement, vision, management, and leadership.

I helped the company executives to manage all clients in New School ways utilizing a work ethic infused by Old School principles.

Chief Operating Officer

1P410 Sports Ventures, LLC

1P410 Sports was a fully integrated sports services company committed to structuring a balanced athletic plan for all. Within the 5500 square foot training facility, we provided personal and group fitness training, sports psychology, sports therapy, massage therapy, acupuncture, and a golf performance center. We utilized technology to help all members attain their goals.

Investor/Board Member

Invesco US

Managed over $80B (topping at $100B) in assets across multiple short-term fixed income sectors and currencies including Prime funds (US Dollar), Canadian, Tax-Exempt, US Dollar Offshore, US Gov't & US Treasury funds. Assets Under Management across Invesco topped $700B.
Authored weekly economic commentaries, presented data analysis on various market segments and provided strategic plan for ongoing portfolio management implementation.
Developed strong rapport with broker/dealer community and maintained attuned ear to market news and movement.
Interacted and collaborated with many internal departments to effectively manage, negotiate and excel through extreme periods of market volatility.

2002-2005 Invesco Fixed Income Internal Wholesaler

1999-2001 Senior Portfolio Assistant

Portfolio Manager

The Briarwood School

Taught Economics, World History, and World Geography to a dynamic group of high school students.  Briarwood is a unique environment with kids who need a more focused and targeted setting in which to learn and thrive.

Teacher

CEO Stonebridge Partners. Simple guidance for complex humans.

After two decades in big and small business — managing billions, scaling startups, and chasing someone else’s definition of success — I realized what was missing: purpose.

In 2019, I co-founded Stonebridge Partners to do things differently. We help small businesses cut through the noise of overpriced benefits, complex payroll systems, and the staffing chaos that never seems to end.

Our mission is simple:
Build real partnerships. Craft smarter solutions. Keep business human.

Because at Stonebridge, we believe small businesses deserve big-league support — without the big-business nonsense.

I share what we’re learning (and unlearning) here on LinkedIn — join me, and let’s build something better together.

I am only a DM away. And you are inching closer to better services from someone who knows and understands the challenges of small business.

Tom Gerhardt

Entrepreneur & Small Business Consultant | Revenue Optimization | Data Storyteller | Ex-Enterprise | A Dad On a Mission | Founder of PurposeBeyondBusiness

Business is a game to be won. 

Just like in any sport you would keep stats on performance, I help keep stats on operations KPIs. 

As a Consultant, I help businesses find KPIs that are aligned with their goals.
I help them clarify the goals so they know WHY they do what they do. 
Then I create a scorecard that measures if the team is winning or not. 

I like focusing on employees, products, customers, processes, and systems to improve profitability of any operation. 

I like helping employees do their tasks better so that leads to happier customers.

Happy customers become returning customers and potentially raving fans.

Creating a happy customers is my ultimate professional goal as a Consultant and a business owner.

Also, I love talking to new people and helping them if I can. 

I take customer service to another level. 

A level I call Customer Excellency. 

→ Why Business Consulting? 

I grew up watching my father deal with customers all day long. He owned a gas station. He didn't just have customers; he had raving fans. 

He loved to talk with his customers. It showed how much he cared. 
 
"Customers are free to spend their money anywhere," he'd say. You must build relationships with your customers and get to know them better. 
 
That's when my passion for entrepreneurship was born. 

Now I help businesses service their customers better by enabling their employees to do their job better and smarter.

I impact companies to grow their bottom line by working with their people and optimizing processes and systems.

I've helped companies such as Loblaw Companies Limited, adidas, Reebok, Bell, and Staples, and more.

Need a Fractional COO? Let's talk!

Sanjay Padhiar

I used to weigh 300 pounds.

"You need to fix your relationship with food.” Someone once told me.

It was kinda true. I had a love-hate relationship with food.

Today, I love food, and the only thing I hate about it is the junk/crap that gets passed off as food. 

Turns out, I didn’t need to fix my relationship with food though. Food was just an outlet.

I needed to fix the relationship with myself, and that’s what I did.

I have this need to help others who are struggling with the same issues.
I tried businesses that help people lose weight.
Coaching and apparel. Never worked. 

The only business that I succeeded in was business consulting.
Then I decided to focus only on better-for-you food companies.

I figured, if we can have better food products in grocery stores, we’ll have better options to choose from. But it’s an uphill battle that’s tougher than nails. And yet there are brands out there doing it.
Not only doing it, but doing it well.

I’ve had the privilege of working with a few of them and helping them.
I did notice one big problem though...

They all need help, but they’re limited on resources, which makes it very difficult to scale.

The thing they lack is people and capital. I can only show them the way to increase profitability & revenue; I can’t make resources appear magically, yet.

Even though it’s hard, I’m still committed to helping good-for-you brands win. Because the 300-pound version of me wished there were healthier options that tasted just as good growing up.

To all you entrepreneurs who are making amazing and better-for-us products, please keep going. The world needs it. 

Just remember this. It gets harder before it gets easier.
It’s not the strongest or the ones with the most money that survive.
It’s the ones who adapt and use their creativity to build a brand that eventually thrive.

I’ve got a confession to make LinkedIn. 

I’m addicted. 

Here’s my Dealer. His name is Minh and he won’t tell me his real age but I think he’s probably mid/early 80s. 

As you might have guessed, he’s my Book Dealer. 

I’m hooked. 
I love to read. 

He’s got a flea market booth filled with books and I visit him quite frequently. He moves great for an 80 year old. He definitely climbs a ladder better than I can 😂.  

I started buying books off him a few years ago and since then I think I’ve read over 20 books. 

While my friends are talking about big screen tv’s, I’m here flaunting my 300+ book collection (jk). 

There’s no top 5 lessons in this post. 
But I will leave you with Minh’s advice on living a healthy and a long life:

(This is word for word)

1.  Don’t smoke cigarettes 🚫 🚬
2. Don’t eat French fries. 🚫🍟 

What I think he meant by French’s fries was don’t eat fried food. I could be wrong. I am not sure but I cut down my French fry intake by 83%. 

I steal family’s fries. 

I’m not sure how this post became about stealing fries, but atleast I got you to read it. 

Thank you for reading. 

Have a great week! 

PS. What book here do you want to read the most?

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Everything I needed to learn about customer service,
I learnt from my dad.


He ran a gas station for 17 years.
I watched him interact with customers and employees all the time. 

I basically grew up at the gas station.

I don’t think enough people realize this, but your employees are the ones who interact most with customers. So I observed them as well.

There were times when the employee didn’t treat customers as my dad expected, with honesty, integrity, and care.

One time, an employee who had been working there for about a year stole money from a customer.
I was there.

A customer dropped a 10/20 dollar bill on the ground, and instead of picking it up and handing it to the customer, the employee stepped on it to cover it up so he could take it. I can’t remember how my dad found out, but he was gone the next day.

He knew every regular customer by name, and he made a point of using it.
My dad never read books about this stuff.
He just knew how to treat people.

He was engaging and knew how to connect with people on a personal level.
So yeah, everything I learnt about customer service, I learnt from him.

Wanna hit your 2026 goals?

Try these 4 things:

1. Do an after-action report every quarter/major project:
   a) What did we intend to accomplish (our goal)?
   b) Was the goal clearly defined & understood?
   c) What did we do to execute?
   d) What were the results?
   e) What will we do next time for a better outcome, or how do we build on our    success?

2. Clearly define OKRs tied to your goals.
OKRs are Objectives, Key Results (measured by KPIs)
   For example. My objective is to get 10 clients by April 31st, by doing 50 outreaches a day, 1 podcast appearance a week, 3 events a month, etc. (key results/KPIs)

3. Review your Forecast, Targets, and Budgets with leadership.
Most small businesses don’t have their targets and goals written down. Once you’ve done this through forecasting and reporting, have your leadership team take on accountability for their KPIs.

4. Setup Review Meetings for the rest of the year
Weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly reviews are a must, and preparation for each meeting is required. Have a data set to review and, hopefully, some insights already gathered, so your teams are ready to discuss and act. Document takeaways and assign accountability during the meeting to specific teams/individuals.

Whether you miss your targets or not, these are good practices to help you stay aligned w/ your team and keep moving forward towards your goals! 

What's something you would add to help you achieve your 2026 goals?

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The Battle

Tom Gerhardt

Sanjay Padhiar

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The Battle

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