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published on September 29, 2016 - 9:38 PM
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Cathy Frost has announced her retirement and the subsequent closure of BennettFrost Personnel Services in Fresno.

Frost, the president of the 24-year-old staffing company, said the closure is bittersweet because she will miss her employees and clients, but she is looking forward to spending more time with her six grandkids.

“I spent some time with my grandkids over the summer and it was during that time I decided it was time to retire,” Frost said. “That is the stage of life I’m at; I just want to spend more time with them.”

With no one in the family to pass the torch to, BennettFrost employees and clients are transitioning to Ultimate Staffing.

Tim Conboy, the branch manager of Fresno Ultimate Staffing, said the company is currently working on transitioning BennettFrost’s 50 employees and 30 clients. The transfer of the associates should be completed by Monday.

“It is an honor that Cathy has entrusted us with her clients and employees,” Conboy said. “It is a big chunk of business and a huge undertaking and we want to make sure the transition is as gentle and easy as possible for everyone involved. It’s a big process for the employees starting the application process again and for the clients, we’re making sure we dot all the i’s and cross the t’s. I want to reassure them they are going to get the same level of service.”

Frost said she has all the confidence in Ultimate Staffing.

“We worked out a wonderful agreement and the transition has been very smooth,” she said.

While Frost acknowledges the difficulty of operating a small business, she said BennettFrost has been doing well and this closure is simply due to her retirement.

“California, with all its regulations, is a hard place for small businesses to be successful, which is really a shame because our Valley is made up of small businesses, but we were solid. This is a true retirement and has been a graceful closing.”

According to the Business Journal’s Book of Lists, BennettFrost Personnel Services ranked 10th in 2013 among staffing services in the Central Valley, with an average of 90 temporary employees getting job assignments each week.

It’s been a long, varied career for Frost, who founded the company as a temporary staffing agency in 1992, transitioning to a full-service agency in 1998. Frost’s work experience actually began as a young teenager, according to an “Executive Profile” feature she did in The Business Journal last year.

This was her response to the question “What was your very first job and what did you learn from it?”

“I was 13 years old and graded plums in a packing house in Selma. I learned that if you master a job and work hard, you’ll move up and earn more money. In a short time, I moved to packing fruit on the belt, where I was paid by the box, and was able to increase my income. It was so powerful to learn that I could have the ability to control the quality and quantity of work I provided, but also increase my earning potential.”


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