Accuchex and Leslie Ruhland

Leslie Ruhland is Executive Vice President of Accuchex, the payroll and insurance service she co-founded 30 years ago with business partner, Jim Ruhland.

Based in Novato, Accuchex provides workforce solutions for employer clients from all walks of life. Among these are small and large businesses, celebrities, politicians and a large base of restaurants across the U.S. Workforce management includes payroll, timekeeping, HRIS, Work comp and other commercial insurance.

Accuchex provides innovative workforce solutions with our self-service portal called Time2Pay, blending “Hi-Tech with Hi-Touch.” Accuchex works with companies that range from just one to thousands of employees nationwide, and it is the largest, independent payroll company in the Bay Area.

“Payroll plays a critical role for every business,” Leslie says. “Everything revolves around employees getting paid correctly and on time. Payroll remains at the center of our daily lives and is the fabric of our communities.

“Although most new clients find us through the Internet, I still enjoy ‘cold calling’ on local businesses. Cold calling is so fun because you discover all kinds of different businesses and the interesting things people are doing,” she says. “We share our clients’ adventure, and we make people happy every day because we pay them on time and correctly.

“One day, we were circling around in our car searching for a particular client’s address, when a security patrol stopped us,” Leslie says. “We explained that we were searching for a new client’s address to deliver their first payroll. The security patrol was in the process of looking for just such a service, and his company is now a happy Accuchex client.”

During the Covid 19 epidemic, Accuchex also serves as a resource to clients, supporting them with the reports and data for SBA programs like PPP loans and tax credits.

Accuchex also supports clients as they navigate the new Covid 19 workforce environment, and clients have adapted several of its traditional solutions for remote and returning employees. Examples include Covid symptom checks through a timekeeping system and worksite safety compliance posters.

A Marin County native, Leslie had an extraordinary opportunity to spend part of her childhood in South Africa where her dad was a mining engineer. To supplement her local high school curriculum, she also took classes through U.C. Berkeley extension, ultimately graduating from Terra Linda High School in 1977.

While attending college, she went to a “Journey” concert in Los Angeles, decided to stay and supported herself by working in the restaurant business, which began her path to Accuchex. Ironically, Accuchex has supported a number of rock bands through the years.

While living the LA experience, Leslie became friends with director / producer Bruce Paltrow and, with a talented team, they opened an innovative new restaurant in Aspen, Colorado. Gordon & Grimsley’s featured “California Cuisine” and was named “Best Restaurant in the Rocky Mountains.” by Gourmet Magazine in 1984.

Feeling land locked and missing California living, Leslie eventually returned to Marin County where she joined The California Cafe Restaurant Corporation. Her position required her to travel all over the Bay Area. When she decided to retire from the restaurant business, she realized there was an opportunity to continue to support the industry on the management side. Thus, Accuchex was founded in 1990.

Leslie says she never knows who she will meet through her business. “Twenty-five years ago, I had a celebrity crush with a local rock band, Pablo Cruise,” she says. “Then, one day a man waited in our lobby to pick up his payroll. I was astonished to learn the man was Pablo Cruise bandleader David Jenkins, and that he had been a client for a number of years.”

Leslie says, “Always looking to support our local business community. We liken ourselves to the Statue of Liberty: All are welcome! No clients too small.”

Accuchex

365 Bel Marin Keys Boulevard

San Rafael

Phone: 415-883-7733

Website: www.accuchex.com