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Some families talk football at Thanksgiving dinner, some talk about current events. In Cody Jensen’s case, his family often talks HCM even during the holidays—often to the chagrin of the families’ spouses, who prefer juicier topics that they can dig into.
OK, the family talks football, too, especially when discussing Cody’s favorite player, Pro Bowl quarterback Jayden Daniels from his beloved Washington Commanders. While Cody lives in Florida now, he grew up in the Washington, D.C., area.
Not many people can say they were raised in a Human Capital Management software family like Cody can. That starts with his dad, Jim Jensen, who is now semi-retired but was an early contributor to the HR Software as a Service space as a key software developer and later chief information officer at Ultimate Software. Jim even worked with PrismHR Chief Sales Officer Rick Torrence back in the day.
Cody’s older brother is currently a sales representative in the HCM industry, and he has two sisters working as HCM consultants.
Being a Jensen means HCM is obviously for them!
“Growing up around that type of culture … I was like, dang, I got to get into this one day, right?” Cody explained.
And get into it he did, but he didn’t roll into it right away even though the wheels were turning.
Growing Up HCM
It might seem hard to believe, but the outgoing Cody was actually shy as a child. He’s the second youngest of seven children in a blended family. He grew up introverted, the product of going to a small private school until third grade and trying to find his place in such a large family.
Read our profiles of CSMs Melissa Eversole, Lesha Cyphers, Jason Ward, Michael Wolf and Matt Yuknis.
“I used to be such a quiet kid,” Cody says. “I just didn’t know how to express myself, how to talk. My eldest brother—big, big dude—he’s a special forces guy in the military. One day he just kind of kept pulling it out of me. And then it was like a veil is lifted, and I became this social cat that I am.”
It all started when he made the switch from private school to public school after third grade.
“I was petrified to get called on. I went to a Christian private school, so, you know, you’re sitting down, hands folded, the whole nine yards, right? I’m sitting down, and I’m petrified. They called on me to answer a question, and I stood up, answered the question and sat back down and folded my hands because that’s how we did it in private school. In public school, people are like, ‘Look at this nerd.’ ”
Which is hard to fathom, especially with his resemblance to NFL quarterback Kirk Cousins.
Auto Focus
After college, Cody went full speed ahead into his professional pursuits. He worked in the auto industry for three years, “building basic skills and what have you.”
While working at Virginia Tire & Auto, the company hired Cousins—who played quarterback for the Commanders from 2012 to 2017—to do some promotional work. Noticing the resemblance to the pro football star, the CEO decided it was time to run a play for his young sales manager.
Cousins “was doing like this promotional thing, and I’m sitting there and everyone would always say, ‘Oh, it’s Kirk Cousins, right?’ ” about Cody. “Well, our CEO is like, ‘Cody, get over here. I want you to be in this ad with Kirk Cousins.’ ”
See the resemblance?
Cody was handed the keys in the commercial, but he was destined to be handed the proverbial keys to a career in HCM software soon after.
Getting the Call
About three years into his budding career in the auto industry, Cody got a call from his father that would change his career and personal trajectory.
Jim Jensen had gotten a new job at an HCM software company, and wanted to see if his son would like to join him. Cody was indeed interested, but his dad said that he could make the introduction but getting hired for the position was up to Cody. “The rest is on you,” Jim said.
Cody impressed in the interview, but the hiring manager was still a bit skeptical at first just because Cody hadn’t worked in the industry before. After giving it some thought, the manager decided to take a chance on the kid from the HCM family—but Cody would have to leave his Northern Virigina home where he grew up and move to St. Petersburg, Florida.
Cody didn’t have to give it much thought. The only sticking point—he had to see if his then girlfriend, Taylar, was willing to make the move. She was, and the two eventually married.
This, of course, was a much smaller obstacle than when Taylar went to Taiwan while they were dating as part of an ROTC program. Cody was definitely bummed, but the long-distance relationship worked out, so moving to the often-steamy southeast from the more moderate Mid-Atlantic region was no big deal.
In fact, Cody and Taylar became trendsetters for the family as his dad decided maybe being a snowbird was not enough. He moved there, too, and the rest of his brothers and sisters followed suit.
PrismHR
Chief Sales Officer
Speaking of following suit, when an opportunity to become an HCM Customer Success Manager at PrismHR opened up, working with the likes of Rick Torrence, who previously worked with Jim Jensen, Cody jumped at the chance. He joined the company in April 2025, and he’s already gotten off to a flying start.
“We are thrilled to have Cody Jensen join the PrismHR Customer Success Manager team,” Torrence said. “He was born for this role, literally. It’s in his DNA. I know, as I’ve had the pleasure to know and work with Cody’s father, Jim, in the HCM business since Cody was a toddler. In a short time, he is already making a big difference for PrismHR and our customers.”
With years of professional HCM experience and much more familial HCM experience, Cody brings decades of know-how to PrismHR and Execupay, a PrismHR affiliated company.
“I think my diverse background that I bring to the table is super helpful, especially with Payroll Service Bureaus and HROs,” Cody says, “Just knowing what’s important to their small businesses helps me really be able to understand what’s ultimately going to be important to the HRO.”
And don’t get him started about HCM at the Thanksgiving table unless you’re ready to talk turkey …
Learn more about the PrismHR HCM solution.
James Tehrani is PrismHR’s content maketing manager. He is an award-winning writer and editor based in the Chicago area.
