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For over twenty-five years, Alex Quevedo has called one of the most well-known names in HR management software and services home. Starting as a sales associate straight out of college, the now president of ADP’s HR outsourcing and PEO business has steadily risen through the organization.
That journey includes three different areas of the business—a move from his home state of Florida to New Jersey, and, eventually, a welcome return to his home city of Miami, where the son of two Cuban immigrants was born and raised.
Quevedo’s commitment to ADP is in part due to the trust the organization has placed in him, whether it be the next big opportunity, a stretch assignment, or a mentorship opportunity.
Currently, Quevedo is leading two ADP businesses and helping to find new ways to serve its clients and their employees, while also finding time to give back to his community and tend to his most treasured role as a “proud girl dad” to his two daughters.
“As long as I can remember, ADP has had a strong diversity, equity, and inclusion focus.”
Alex Quevedo
Big Moves
There was perhaps no bigger proving ground for Quevedo than his move from Florida to New Jersey in 2011. The SVP role Quevedo was taking on was a world apart from his time in sales. It had a national reporting responsibility with much more exposure.
“The move was, for so many reasons, a pivotal moment in my life,” Quevedo explains. “But it paved the way for me not just to take larger roles at ADP but, oddly enough, moving to New Jersey would help me get back to Miami after fifteen years of moving around for various opportunities within the company.”
Fortunately, culture shock wasn’t a worry for Quevedo’s New Jersey adventure as it wasn’t his first time moving. He’d already experienced big change going from Miami to a small town in Tennessee to attend university. Those new surroundings didn’t faze Quevedo and he was the first student to be awarded the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award for ardent public service.
“Any time I thought about hardship, I would just think of my grandparents and the fortitude it must have taken to move to a new country with children, the sacrifice they made to create a better life for themselves and their children,” Quevedo says. “It makes any big moments I’ve faced seem minor in comparison.”
Internal & External Excellence
Since returning to Miami in 2018, and assuming his current role in 2021, Quevedo’s purview has widely grown. He leads two of ADP’s high growth businesses: ADP TotalSource, which is the largest professional employer organization (PEO) in the country, and ADP Comprehensive Services, a leading outsourcing solution for payroll, benefits, and HR.
“We’re always focused on growth,” Quevedo says. “ADP has a long track record of success with a tremendous brand reputation for providing services that enable businesses to do what they do best. Our goal is to provide world-class services that keep our clients flourishing.”
As for so many other industries, the pandemic provided some incredible changes for Quevedo and his teams to work through. Pre-pandemic, we typically saw about five percent of our clients that were hiring those employees in a new location. But as the pandemic sent everyone home, moving about the country and seeking out new ways of working, suddenly that number shot up to 91 percent.
The rapid change to hybrid and remote work, however, turned out to be a significant business driver for ADP.
“Challenges brought on by the pandemic and afterward, like the tight labor market, are areas where we’ve really been able to help our clients not just survive but grow,” Quevedo says. “We’re able to help clients mitigate risk, institute new safety protocols to protect workers, manage compliance obligations in their new locations, and provide competitive and affordable benefits for their employees who are now spread across the United States.
“Any time I thought about hardship, I would just think of my grandparents and the fortitude it must have taken to move to a new country with children.”
Alex Quevedo
Internally, Quevedo has been looking for ways that automation can provide his teams with more meaningful and less repetitive work. As those efforts have progressed internally, Quevedo’s teams have looked to build in some of those efficiencies for ADP’s clients. It’s a win-win.
Passing It On
Encouraged by the mentorship he’s received over the years at ADP, Quevedo is intent on finding a way to inspire the next generation of leaders. He serves as the executive sponsor of Adelante, ADP’s Hispanic business resource group: one of numerous business resource groups at the company that brings recognition and focus on diversity, talent development, and workplace impact.
“As long as I can remember, ADP has had a strong diversity, equity, and inclusion focus,” Quevedo says. “Along with leveraging our data to benchmark and track our progress, we want to help our clients do the same to help build a more equitable workforce.”
One way ADP is delivering on its long-held commitment to creating a better world of work is through a diversity, equity, and inclusion dashboard for its clients to better address their own needs. But Quevedo’s business doesn’t stop there. His team also advises its clients on how they can start and manage their own diversity, equity, and inclusion program.
“Challenges brought on by the pandemic and afterward, like the tight labor market, are areas where we’ve really been able to help our clients not just survive but grow.”
Alex Quevedo
Quevedo actively participates in ADP community outreach projects with Big Brothers and Big Sisters, Habitat for Humanity, and The United Way. And he has a special affinity toward the SebastianStrong Foundation, an organization focused on funding research for childhood cancer treatments and providing financial support for families working through cancer treatment.
Above his impressive title and position as a community leader are Quevedo’s two daughters. Whether it’s acting as an assistant coach for their athletics, or just making sure he gets a chance to drive them to school, it’s clear Quevedo’s priorities haven’t changed, even as he’s continued to rise through ADP. It doesn’t matter his title or the state he lives in, Quevedo just wants to be there for his people.
