In 1990, James L. (Jim) This, Ph.D. and Bernie Benson teamed-up to forming a consulting company called MicroSkills that specialized in consulting and training services for Credit Unions. At the time, Jim already had numerous clients engaging him for strategic planning retreats, and Bernie had developed several training courses for the emerging Microsoft tools that formed the backbone of the Microsoft Office suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook).

Jim and Bernie soon realized that organizations needed much broader strategic and resource planning and development, so they reformed into a new company, called The Paragon Consulting Group, in 1995. From 1995 to 2007 Paragon grew to include several other partners, each with experience in critical areas of leadership and with a deep commitment to developing quality client relationships. Jean Webb and Marge Mohoric both joined as partners in 2002, and Sue Girsch was added to the team in 2002 (becoming a full partner in 2006). Jim Packer, the most tenured employee, joined the company in 1997 and has been keeping the infrastructure of Paragon running smoothly ever since.

In July of 2007 Paragon was purchased by TwinStar Credit Union and was reformed once again--this time as a CUSO (Credit Union Service Organization)--giving Paragon a much broader reach and deeper resources for expanding our staff and consulting tools. Jim This now serves as President/CEO and Bernie Benson, Marge Mohoric and Sue Girsch as Vice Presidents. Jim Packer continues his role as our systems administrator, but has also expanded his duties by taking on the role of Office Manager.