Meet Our Team
Get to know the staff at Servant HR along with our background and values.
Michael Yoder
President and Chief Executive Officer
Mike has been involved in the human resource field in one way or another since 1991. As a management-side employment law attorney at Baker & Daniels in Indianapolis, Mike developed deep human resource legal and practical expertise. He also held human resource management positions at Eli Lilly & Company and the City of Indianapolis before becoming an entrepreneur, co-founding Dewitt & Lane, a business consulting company. Mike graduated magna cum laude from Taylor University with a BA in Political Science and History and obtained his JD cum laude from the Georgetown University Law Center. Mike is a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR). He joined Servant HR in 2008 as its Chief Executive Officer.
Mike’s free time is focused on family. Mike married his wife, Rebecca, in 1988, and together they invest in the lives of their sons, Austin and Alec, and daughter, Ashlyn, through family ministry, travel and home school education. Much of the family’s travel involves their individual passions of film (Austin) and competitive gymnastics (Alec and Ashlyn).
Loren Elms
Chief Operating Officer
Loren has acquired extensive personnel and managerial experience while serving as a departmental and office manager for over 25 years. He has a diverse background as a “details man,” having had numerous opportunities to develop and utilize his skills in research, computer literacy, training development, management and consultation. Loren enjoys working behind the scenes to facilitate and streamline methods that help others achieve personal and company goals. He became a Certified Payroll Professional in 2011.
Outside the office, Loren enjoys playing the piano and dabbles a bit in composing and arranging. He has taught music classes, published a collection of children’s songs and produced several music recordings. Along with his wife Leah and three sons, Loren is actively involved in the music program at their local church, where he also serves as a deacon and a Sunday school teacher.
When he has down time, you will likely find Loren in a quiet corner with a cup of coffee and a good book, or enjoying a road trip to visit extended family.
Jayne Blazier
Staff Accountant
Jayne provides the accounting and bookkeeping functions for Servant HR and its clients. This involves tax filings and required reporting for clients, as well as all general accounting functions for Servant HR. She has deep experience in all of these financial functions with nearly 20 years of experience with such diverse employers as The Personnel Department, Perkins Family Restaurants and Mike’s Carwash. Jayne also has experience in developing centralized accounting and purchasing processes for more efficient financial operations.
She and her husband have two children and four grandchildren. In addition to spending much time with her family, Jayne is very involved in her church. In addition to music and teaching ministries, she also uses her professional skills as the church Bookkeeper/Assistant Treasurer.
Sarah Shagena
Benefits Specialist
Sarah’s passion is serving others and when employees have questions about their benefits, she eagerly helps them navigate the often-complicated world of insurance. Whether an employee questions a medical procedure cost, needs assistance interpreting a medical claim, or simply requests a new ID card, Sarah’s goal is to provide understanding and answers. Administratively, she also processes insurance enrollments and terminations, guides employees through short- and long-term disability claims, and creates client specific employee benefit guides.
Holly Martinez, CPP
Payroll Coordinator
Holly brings much practical experience to Servant HR. She spent seven years assisting her husband in organizing mission trips into Mexico, providing operational and administrative assistance to up to 100 people per trip. She then spent nine years as an accuracy checker of college math textbooks for one of the largest textbook companies in the United States. Holly is a “numbers person” with much attention to detail – which makes her perfect for this role. Holly became a Certified Payroll Professional in 2019.
Holly and her husband have been married for over twenty-five years and have been blessed with four boys. They are now college-age and beyond, but family get-togethers and game nights are still a highlight. Cooking with her husband is also a favorite pastime. Holly grew up in Florida, but with her love of the outdoors is thrilled to live where she can enjoy fall colors and a good snow fall but visit family and the beach in the summer. Holly also serves faithfully in her local church, with her favorite place being the church nursery.
Julie Lo Gatto
HR & Benefits Specialist
Julie’s education and real world experience has given her an array of tools for helping business leaders and employees succeed in the ever changing realm of Human Resources. She believes an HR professional must first understand the business in which employees operate, build positive relationships and then work to set persons within that organization up for success. Whether it be providing employment law guidance, benefits administration or helping someone onboard each role is taken on with a serving heart.
Prior to joining Servant HR, Julie worked for Nucor Steel and Indianapolis based Brightpoint Inc. (now Ingram Micro). She holds a BS in Speech Communication from East Tennessee State University and a Masters of Human Resources from the Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina.
Julie’s professional life is complimented by her husband and two young sons Gabriel and Caleb. She values her family time and strives to raise her boys with Christian values. When home, she can be found doing yoga or pilates, cooking up international dishes, or making her family laugh.
Colleen Cavanaugh
Compliance Coordinator
Colleen finds the most joy in seeing a need and being able to find or provide the solution. This is the driving passion of her professional and personal life and has led to 20+ years of skill development in office and operational management. Along the way she discovered an enthusiasm for problem solving, detecting roadblocks and pitfalls in organizational strategies and process, and finding ways to improve functions to the benefit of those she serves. From her beginning experience as an office manager and paralegal, to directing operations in a non-profit, the diversity of training along with her analytical and detail orientated nature brings the ability to fit into a variety of roles.
When not working, Colleen enjoys serving in various ministries in her local church, spending time with family, hiking the great outdoors, or sitting and staring at some of nature’s grand views.
Susan Martin, CPP
Administrative Coordinator
Susan joined the team with a love of helping people. She has a BS from Wright State University and has spent the last several years helping run her family’s small business and homeschool their children. She provides a variety of assistance in office administration, payroll, and benefits and is probably the friendly voice you hear first on the phone.
Susan and her husband have been married for over 20 years and have 3 children in high school and college. In between work, music lessons, and sports practices, they have a small hobby farm that keeps them busy. In her spare time Susan enjoys cooking, reading, spending time with her family, and helping in their local church. Susan became a Certified Payroll Processor in 2023.
Victoria Cherian
Onboarding Specialist
For as long as she can remember, Victoria has been passionate about serving people. Her role as Onboarding Specialist is the perfect fit as it provides the opportunity to welcome new employees to the company, offer guidance as they get acclimated, and ensure that they feel valued and appreciated. Each individual is special and comes with their own story and varied experience, and Victoria considers it an honor to be part of their next chapter.
Kris Simmons
Client Service Specialist
Kris values partnering with clients so they can thrive in what they do best by offering help with what ServantHR does best. He joins the team after having spent a few years in business development and user success roles at a FinTech company. Kris values serving the whole person when working with others. He gets energy from getting to help others get to where they want to go, from employer to employee, and providing strategic thinking that is productive for his teammates and clients.
Kris earned a BS in Public Relations at Ball State University (Chirp, Chirp) where he was transformed through his involvement with Cru, a student-led campus ministry. He dabbles in podcast writing, recording, and editing about an annual basketball tournament he plays in with high school friends. He also spends a fair amount of time reading non-fiction, researching random (and sometimes not-so-random) trivial facts, and staying physically active. Kris commutes from Muncie, IN, where he lives with his wife, Stacy, and two sons. They’re committed to their community in Muncie until God asks them to go somewhere else.
Jeff C. Leffew
Founder and Chairman
Jeff graduated from Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Missouri with a BS degree in Business Management. Jeff also obtained an MBA from Taylor University. He has worked in the human resource field since 1991, starting out as a Personnel Assistant at Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri. As the Assistant HR Director at Volume Services in Kansas City, Missouri, his clients included the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals. He arrived in Indiana to work for The Personnel Department, a start-up administrative employer organization.
In 2000, Jeff began his first entrepreneurial venture by co-founding Strategic Partners Consulting in Kansas City, Missouri. Later, he sold this company to his former employer and continued on as the CEO for the next three years. After ten years in the industry serving companies throughout the Midwest, Jeff started Servant HR in the summer of 2003.
Jeff highly values his family time as he stays busy with his marathon-running wife Karen and his four daughters, Gabrielle, Kylee, Annika and Tessa. The girls love piano while mom enjoys making up reasons to have celebrations and decorate for such events as “Last Day of School” and “First Day of Spring”! When they are not staying busy with their many ministry opportunities at church, Jeff earnestly puts forth effort to get his “ladies” to love Notre Dame football and Butler basketball – with limited success.
About Us
Servant HR is a full-service human resources service provider. By partnering with us, you get a fully integrated human resources team working for your protection.
Contact
Follow
Log In