History

In 1990, James L. (Jim) This, Ph.D. and Bernie Benson teamed-up to form a company called MicroSkills that specialized in planning 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. 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 continues to serve as President; Mary Beth Spuck, a vice president of TwinStar Credit Union, has recently become our CEO; and Bernie Benson and Sue Girsch both serve as vice presidents. Jim Packer continues his role as our systems administrator, but has expanded his duties by taking on the critical role of Office Manager.

Since 2007, Paragon has significantly expanded its staff and services to include in Organizational Development, Volunteer Leadership Development, Compliance Solutions, Business Continuity Planning, Human Resource Solutions, and Information Technology Solutions. We currently maintain a staff of 16 talented individuals, and expect that number to keep growing.