July 21, 2016
To Whom It May Concern:
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It is my great pleasure to write a letter of reference for Ms. Brenda Bowers, who I have worked with for close to 13 years. As the recently retired VP of Human Resources at Group 1 Automotive in Houston, Texas, I was involved in Brenda’s recruitment in December 2003 and directly supervised her activities up until my retirement in March of 2016.
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Brenda was initially hired to consolidate our payroll activities as we were a retail automotive rollup, buying new car dealerships throughout the US. Over the course of a seven-year period she traveled extensively for Group 1 in an effort to consolidate four separate payroll systems into one system (ADP Enterprise), and consolidate 15 separate payroll offices into one payroll center (located in Houston), employing 26 payroll pro-fessionals. She was completely successful in her mission to consolidate this activity and it resulted in meaningful savings for the company and stan-dardization of our payroll practices.
In addition to this consolidation activity, as director of payroll at Group 1, Brenda was ultimately responsible for a $600 million annual payroll, paying over 10,000 US employees across 14 states. She recruited, trained and managed the payroll team in the very difficult automotive retail pay environment.
She was also very involved in acquisition work, working on close to 90 acquisitions during her tenure with the company and handled all other associated activities too numerous to mention.
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Brenda was always positive, helpful and focused on her job. Long hours or seemingly impossible tasks did not faze her - she was always up for the challenge. I would be glad to provide more reference information as necessary.
I can be reached at 713-299-5207.
Sincerely,
James B. O’Hara
Former VP of HR - Group 1 Automotive
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June 1, 2020
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I worked for Brenda Bowers for over 10 years. As the Payroll Director at Group 1, she helped shape the Payroll Department to a top notch efficient well-run department.
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Her dedication to Group 1 plus her great knowledge and skills allowed her to not only maintain a state of the art Payroll Department at Group 1 but at the same time Brenda had the respect of her peers.
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Brenda always remembered that her employees were just as important to her as her family. She cared about Group 1 and for her employees equally, for this reason, I always felt such a deep sense of commitment and a great honor to have worked for Brenda Bowers for all those years.
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It is my sincere pleasure to recommend Brenda Bowers to your Company as she can and will provide you with the best possible service.
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Kindest regards,
Cynthia Rangel
I worked with Brenda Bowers for @ 13 years. We worked on many projects together, acquisitions, consolidations, several payroll conversions, etc. Brenda has one of the highest work ethics of anyone I’ve ever worked with. She goes above and beyond to do the research and pre- implementation leg work to insure the projects are implemented with the least amount of disruption and problems as possible. That’s not to say they go without hiccups. But, when this does occur she is all over it. She is extremely knowledgeable in the payroll arena on both the federal and state levels. She has great expertise in writing custom reports to address specific business needs when standard can reports don’t fit. Brenda would be my first call if I were ever to tackle a massive project of any magnitude. She is simply the best I’ve ever worked with.
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Pam Taquino, PHR
Former HR Manager
Group 1 Automotive
"I’ve worked with Brenda now since 2019. Brenda has been a true professional through every interaction both with myself and our clients. In our most recent project, Brenda performed functional and technical payroll activities utilizing ADP Vantage HCM. I look forward to continuing our partnership with Brenda and many successful projects to come!”
June 3, 2020
To Whom It May Concern,
Brenda and I had the privilege of working together shortly after the payroll function moved under Human Resources. I had to source a new payroll leader who could build a team, migrate to an updated platform, and integrate several other payrolls as we created a shared service function. I found Brenda, and she agreed to join the team. She brought her experience and breadth of knowledge in full force. She built the team and acted as the key project leader for payroll.
Brenda is the consummate professional in many ways. She is someone you can rely on, and that will do all she can in support of her client. She works to build a team of dedicated profes-sionals who have followed her as she has moved. If you are looking for someone knowledgeable about payroll and everything related to it, Brenda is the person you need.
Sincerely,
Craig Woolcott
Former VP of HR - ENGIE
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It is with great pleasure I write a letter of reference for Brenda Bowers. I worked with Brenda for twenty years at Belmont Con-structors in Houston, TX from 1980 to 1999. Brenda served as our Payroll Manager, and in my role as Operations Controller I worked closely with her both as a colleague and her supervisor. Brenda consistently exhibited a strong work ethic, and an unmatched level of dedication, professionalism and integrity. In her tenure as Payroll Manager, Brenda not only improved our payroll processes, she also provided strong leadership to the department. Our payroll was always completed on time and was accurate. I highly recommend Brenda to any company that is in need of a payroll specialist.
Sincerely,
Rick Mills
(713) 253-8340
" I worked with Brenda Bowers for 20 some years and during that time I was very impressed with her work ethic. She proved to be very professional, knowledgeable and capable. No obstacle was ever too great to overcome. She handled huge payrolls effort-lessly, capably and seemingly with the greatest of ease. Her organizational skills are superlative.
In addition, she is a super individual whom I am happy and honored to call a friend."
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Bea Patterson
Brenda Bowers is a true payroll professional in every sense of the word. Not only does she possess a stellar list of accomplishments throughout her career, but her broad professional background is unsurpassed in meeting any payroll issue. There are no greater stringent deadlines in business as are payroll deadlines, and Brenda can be trusted to meet every payroll requirement efficiently and on time. I trust her explicitly and value her as a professional and as a friend.
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Jeryl Finke
Former Area Manager
Aluma Systems USA
After several unhappy experiences with headhunters and online job placement services, we hired Brenda to screen candidates for the position. She made the entire process painless. She screened resumes, had initial interviews and performed all the tedious screening tasks for hiring a new employee. Brenda’s ability to think outside the box and knowledge of the payroll process resulted in the best new employee we have had in years.
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Thank you Brenda!
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Moore & Botzong CPAs, PLLC
"It was an absolute pleasure having you on the team and everyone agrees you added a lot of value and insights."
Mike Nowak | Director, Controller
The Lane Construction Corporation