Orange County Chamber of Commerce 2023 Small Business of the Year
Our Mission
We stand to provide the ethical and honest businesses that have kept our community alive with honest payroll services, and it’s our mission to serve them as friends and fellow leaders. Payroll is our service, honesty is our business, ethics is our promise.
We believe that business owners have the right to choose their payroll provider, from non-penalizing service responsiveness, flexibility to run their payroll their way, and the benefit of an owner-to-owner relationship that protectively advises them in their local community, not a national company that only knows them by number.
OUR COMMITMENT TO YOU
- We will respect all clients with the customer service that they deserve.
- We will manage all accounts with honesty and integrity.
- We will provide protective advising for management awareness and decision making.
- We will continue to be an ethical leader as a local business & community leader.
- We will be accessible to you and your teams for questions, support and advising to achieve the best service and value for your business.
- We commit to protect your business with integrity and responsibility.
AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
- 2009 Central County ROP Business Leader of the Year
- Best in Orange 2008 through 2020
- Chairman of the Orange Chamber of Commerce 2009-2010
- Board member for the Orange Chamber of Commerce 2004-2011, 2019-Current
- Board member for the Community Foundation of Orange 2010-2018
- Chairman for Leadership Orange from 2005-2008
- Chairman for Jr. Leadership Orange from 2008-2010
- Member of the American Payroll Association since 1998
- Orange Rotary Club Member from 2007-2015
Our Leadership Team
Chris Horton, Founder
Chris has been performing payroll functions at many levels since 1992. He has worked for a large corporate banking institution with 1600 employees and 13 subsidiaries in 28 states. As payroll manager, he processed the payroll and tax liability filings, as well as the quarter and year-end functions. Chris and his wife Janette started Payrunner Payroll because they saw the need for small businesses to have a choice when it came to who processed their payroll. The large national companies can’t match the customer service, fair pricing, and respect shown to the small business owner. Payrunner Payroll is a small business itself, which is why other small business owners relate well to Chris and Janette. They understand the needs of other small businesses, but more importantly, they can deliver valuable solutions for them.
Chris knows business owners get busy running their day-to-day operations but have very specific needs when it comes to running their payroll. This is why Chris and Janette came up with the slogan, and promise, “Your Payroll, Your Way”. Business owners really like this, especially since there are no additional fees connected to this customization. Payrunner Payroll does not nickel and dime their clients; they respect them and are there for them for their every payroll need.
Since 2002, when Chris and Janette began Payrunner Payroll, the need for ancillary services has grown, to which Payrunner has delivered. In response, Chris has worked hard to create great business relationships and has partnered with companies that offer these services. Payrunner Payroll and its partners offer HR services, workers compensation insurance, background searches, drug testing services, time and attendance services as well as staffing services to serve the needs of their small business clients.
Chris is also a big community supporter. In 2009, he won the Central County ROP Business Leader of the Year Award. He won this for working with high school students that were not only failing in school, but also struggling in life. With the help of the Orange Chamber of Commerce, he was able to work with these students to give them the support they needed to get their lives back on the right track. Chris was very pleased when all 10 of these students, who worked very hard, graduated from Orange High School. Chris is past Chairman of the Board for the Orange Chamber of Commerce and is still a member of their Executive Board and their Board of Directors. Chris has also been a Board member for the Community Foundation of Orange, who holds the annual Foundation Games at Fred Kelly Stadium. Chris has also been a member of the Rotary Club of Orange.
JANETTE HORTON, CO-FOUNDER
Janette has been in both the accounting and the customer service industries for over 25 years. With this experience, and Chris’ payroll and customer service experience, they decided to open up their own payroll service bureau. They knew they had the tools to help small businesses and wanted to give them the choice when it came to processing their payroll. It was their goal to create an option so small business owners no longer had to settle for a large national payroll company that didn’t know how to give them the level of customer service they desired.
Currently, Janette is in charge of managing Payrunner Payroll’s daily operations. This includes the daily process and procedure manual, the processing of clients’ daily payrolls and confirming that daily tax and wire transfers are balanced and remitted in a timely manner. Because of Janette’s commitment to ensure client customer service and payroll expectations are exceeded, Payrunner Payroll won the 2008 and 2012 Best in Orange Award. Janette also spends much of her time focused on supporting her community. She participated in and graduated from the Leadership Orange program through the Orange County Chamber of Commerce. Along with her classmates, she renovated the Killefer Park Student Center for the Friendly Center of Orange. They worked to get donations, but also put in a lot of physical labor to renovate the center inside and out. Janette has also donated time to helping out with the Community Foundation of Orange Annual Foundation Games. Outside of Payrunner Payroll and her service to the Orange community, Janette is a dedicated mother and wife.