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With summer approaching, it might seem a little early to talk about Christmas—but does the magic really happen just one day a year?
Greg Williams understands better than most people how Christmas can be a yearlong activity. It’s at the very fiber of his being.
That’s because the new PrismHR enterprise sales manager for PrismHR Tax grew up on a 17-acre Christmas tree farm in New Jersey. He worked on it and played on it growing up, especially as he got to explore the brook on the edge of the property with his older brother. Their toys of choice? Dirt bikes and off-road go-karts.
And while Greg would have been happy to show you how to tie a prized pine, spruce or fir tree securely to your car with a strong knot, he would have been just as exuberant when he was younger just to show you the ropes.
All three of them actually.
That’s because he once had his sights set on becoming a professional wrestler—and being able to “run the ropes” is a foundational part of the wrestling biz. Just like learning the ropes is a huge part of becoming successful in the tax software business. But we’ll get to that.
A Serious Situation
In high school, Greg played football. He hit his growth spurt in his midteens and reached 6 feet tall. At 185 pounds at the time, he sported an impressively lean 7% body fat. He played guard and defensive end for the Newton (New Jersey) High School Braves, and he also served as team captain.
After graduation, Greg decided to pursue his dream of becoming a professional wrestler. While taking classes at a local junior college in his home state of New Jersey—where he still resides—he trained with ring veteran Kevin Knight, aka the “Master of Chaos,” in his spare time.
Unfortunately, chaos did ensue …
After his training had just begun, Greg was hit hard. Not in the ring by a charging 250-pounder, but in a car accident caused by something around that weight. While he was driving one day, a deer jumped in front of his vehicle causing extensive damage to the car—and, more importantly, to Greg.
He blew out his patella tendon in his knee and ruptured his spleen in the accident, but the worst was yet to come.
About six months later, he noticed something was wrong when he would look down to tie his shoes or just look down at the ground in general. He would feel pins and needles going down the back of his legs. At first, he thought there might be a pinched nerve, so he wasn’t too concerned.
Then his legs started giving out, and, if he wasn’t near something, down he went like an elbow drop.
He had broken his neck in the accident, and didn’t realize it.
The C6 vertebrae in his neck “was snapped completely in half.” They operated on Greg the week of Christmas that year by fusing the vertebrae in his neck with “four screws holding it together.”
They also used cadaver tissue that his body wound up absorbing.
His wrestling days were indeed over, but, as someone who likes to stay active, he turned to other outlets like golf. His neck still bothers him from time to time, but he knows that, when a flare-up occurs, it’s time to put the clubs away and end the round.
A New Career Path Emerges
Eventually he left the confines of his local community college and headed for Boston where he switched his academic focus from business to history. Greg innately understands the importance of history as his family traces its roots back to the Royal Irish Kingdom of Desmond, which was founded in 1118.
When in Ireland, “If you mention that you’re a Desmond in the pub—any pub—people immediately are buying you drinks. It’s like being a celebrity,” he said.
As Greg explains, the Desmonds were part of a group of clans that defended Southern Ireland centuries ago.
While U.S. history is clearly much more nascent compared with Irish history, he still has a passion for learning about how this country was formed, especially if it’s related to the Revolutionary War. He’s been to Bunker Hill in Boston, the site of the first battle, which took place in June 1775. More recently, he and his wife, Stefanie, checked out Quincy, Massachusetts, the place where President John Adams lived and farmed later in his life.
Side note: Greg and Stefanie met online. They actually had lived less than 10 minutes away from each other for years, but never crossed paths.
Well, that’s not exactly true. Greg and his family would frequent a swimming pool at the Land of Make Believe amusement park that had a lifeguard by the name of, you guessed it, Stefanie. Greg says that Stefanie remembers the time when Greg’s young niece was being a bit of a daredevil at the pool climbing on the large “mushrooms” positioned as decorations in the kiddie pool, which caused Stefanie to blow the whistle and Greg’s mom to apologize to her. Stefanie doesn’t remember seeing Greg at the time though.
When they finally did meet, they hit it off quickly. They were married in 2019, and share a home with Bennie, a rescue Goldendoodle named after the main character in the Elton John song Bennie and the Jets.
Besides being a big fan of the “Rocket Man,” Greg is a big fan of John Adams, the second U.S. president, which is why they went to Quincy in the first place.
“His style,” Greg said, “is kind of like me, kind of a Renaissance man.”
Greg added, “He really helped bring people together.”
Adams also always acted with integrity, Greg explains. “You really couldn’t get him to waver from doing what was right by people.”
These were lessons that Greg took to heart as he graduated in 2011 and began his career journey at a time when the country was still recovering from the Great Recession with the unemployment rate hovering around 9%.
So what does a historian do during a historically difficult time to find a job?
Hit the links, of course.
While out golfing with his dad and some of his friends, Greg connected with someone who worked for a large payroll, HR and tax services company. Even though Greg wasn’t specifically looking to get into that field or even that company, his dad’s friend said, “They’re always hiring.”
It was a chance to get his foot in the door, so he continued applying there until he finally got hired.
After two years with the company, he got a taste of what it would be like working with taxes.
He was in a compliance division at the time that had an add-on suite related to taxes.
“I got very focused on taxes for some reason,” he said. “The complexity is what interested me. … I like doing a lot of research. I will dig deep into stuff that people just don’t have an interest in.”
In other words, taxes are, of course, important but not an area many people like to think about. But Greg does.
Taxes, Taxes and More Taxes
Not many people relish learning about tax complexities like Greg does. He would comb through IRS and state tax websites looking for information that he could use to help businesses along their compliance journeys.
For Greg, it was about spending the time to help companies understand the absolute value of not having to spend the time trying to navigate tax compliance on their own.
Over the years, Greg became acquainted with PrismHR from meeting people at trade shows and such, so when the opportunity arose to join the company, he didn’t hesitate to apply.
It didn’t take long for the two sides to see it was an amazing fit.
“He has been a tremendous addition to our team,” said Russ Jones, PrismHR’s vice president of sales. “Greg’s skillset feels almost purpose-built for PrismHR and our customers. With more than a decade of payroll tax experience and deep expertise supporting service providers, Greg’s tax-related experience allows us to better understand and serve our customers’ needs.”
While he’s only been with the company a short time, he has embraced the supportive and collaborative culture that makes up PrismHR, and he’s excited to meet the PrismHR customers in person at his first PrismHR LIVE in Denver this June.
What Can Customers Expect?
Greg is eager to show PrismHR customers just how easy managing tax regulations can be with the right solution in place.
And with Greg, what you see is what you get.
“I do work and act with integrity. I don’t BS, I don’t play games,” he said. “I truly enjoy getting down to the meat and bones of the situation. … Tax compliance comes at a cost whether you pay somebody to do it or not. What I mean by that is I’ve run into people countless times where they say, ‘We have it taken care of in-house. We have a tax person that knows everything and handles everything.’ ”
Then Greg asks a simple question: “So what happens if that person leaves?”
That’s when the a-ha moment occurs for many of the companies he speaks with.
And, like a Christmas tree farm, peace of mind is a gift that keeps giving year after year, but, for Greg, success—in tax compliance or otherwise—starts with strong fibers and even stronger knots fashioned to ensure lasting success.
Like we said: He knows the ropes.
