Aspen HR executive highlights EBITDA gains from workforce strategy

Aspen HR Co-Founder and COO Jenny Souksavath led a roundtable at the 2026 Independent Sponsor Summit Dallas focused on finding hidden EBITDA opportunities without cutting headcount. The discussion showed how payroll tax, workers’ comp, benefits design and incentive programs can affect profitability and value creation for investors and operators.

Why it matters: - Workforce strategy is becoming part of the value-creation playbook for independent sponsors, private equity firms and founder-led businesses. - The session centered on EBITDA improvement through labor-cost structure, not layoffs. - Investors looking beyond traditional cost cutting are paying more attention to HR infrastructure, benefits design and payroll optimization.

What happened: - Aspen HR highlighted Co-Founder and COO Jenny Souksavath’s participation at the 2026 Independent Sponsor Summit Dallas. - Souksavath led a featured long-table session titled "The EBITDA You're Leaving on the Table." - The summit was hosted by iGlobal Forum in Dallas and brought together independent sponsors, private equity professionals, family offices, lenders, operators and founders active in the Texas lower middle market. - The event focused on dealmaking strategies across industrial, business services, healthcare, energy-adjacent and other high-growth sectors.

The details: - The session examined how companies and investors can improve profitability without reducing headcount. - The discussion focused on payroll tax exposure, workers’ compensation classifications, employee benefits strategy and state incentive programs. - iGlobal Forum said the 30-minute session drew a full room and generated sustained back-and-forth. - iGlobal Forum said payroll tax exposure, workers’ comp classification and benefits structure were recurring diligence gaps for many sponsors. - Souksavath said many organizations treat labor costs as fixed, even though workforce planning, compliance and benefits design can improve efficiency, reduce risk and strengthen EBITDA. - Aspen HR partners with private equity firms, portfolio companies, founder-led businesses and entrepreneur-backed organizations nationwide. - Aspen HR’s IRS-certified PEO model includes payroll, HR, benefits administration, compliance support and strategic workforce advisory services. - Aspen HR says the model is designed to help organizations scale while minimizing employer risk. - Attendees discussed identifying hidden labor-related EBITDA opportunities, optimizing payroll tax and workers’ compensation structures, designing benefits programs, leveraging state and federal employer incentive programs, reducing HR and compliance risk during growth and acquisition, and supporting post-close integration and workforce scalability. - Aspen HR describes itself as an IRS-Certified Professional Employer Organization delivering white-glove HR, payroll, benefits, compliance and workforce solutions to high-growth and middle-market companies.

Between the lines: - The discussion reflects a broader shift in how deal teams evaluate operating performance. - Labor costs are being treated less as a fixed expense and more as a set of variables that can be structured. - That framing gives HR and benefits decisions a more direct role in enterprise value than they have had in many traditional diligence processes.

What's next: - Aspen HR is directing readers to AspenHR.com for more information about its workforce solutions. - The summit’s strong turnout suggests more investor focus on labor structure, compliance and benefits design in future deal discussions. - As competition for returns intensifies, more sponsors may look for EBITDA improvement in workforce operations rather than headcount reductions.

The bottom line: - Aspen HR used the Dallas summit to make a clear case: workforce design can unlock EBITDA, reduce risk and support growth without cutting jobs.