Remembering and Honoring the Life and Legacy of George A. Rogers: November 12th, 1946 – February 5th, 2021

February 5, 2022

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Private mass and services for George Rogers’ immediate family were held on May 28th, 2021, at the Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Fresno. This date represented the one-year anniversary of George’s transplant. On November 12th, 2021, the day of his 75th birthday, a tribute luncheon to celebrate his life, achievements, and legacy was held at Fort Washington Country Club.

A self-made success with a strong work ethic, George Rogers was an entrepreneur and innovator who had a profound impact on his family, friends, employees, the staffing industry, and the Fresno community. As The PrideStaff Companies Founder and late CEO, Rogers lived out his passion for providing people with opportunities to create meaningful careers. Today, his dedication continues through the George & Melodie Rogers Foundation, the charitable organization he and his wife established before his passing.

A Fresno native, Rogers was the son of a butcher and a catalog clerk who instilled a strong work ethic and appreciation for the value of education. After attending Fresno High School, Rogers became the first in his family to attend college. His experiences at Fresno State and early on in his career helped him appreciate how education and hard work yield success – they set the stage for what would later shape the legacy he leaves behind.

Rogers’ entrepreneurial spirit and strong desire to help people spurred the start of American Home Care, his first staffing service, in 1978. He sold the business in 1985 to start American Temporary Services, which he rebranded in 1995 as PrideStaff. From its headquarters in Fresno, Rogers steadily built his business with a mission to “Consistently provide client experiences focused on what they value most,” guided by the core values of integrity, trust, reliability, respect, innovation, and, of course, pride.

Rogers loved the staffing industry because it was a way to provide meaningful work to people. Rather than calling his owner/operators “franchisees,” Rogers titled them “Strategic-Partners” as he had a genuine desire to help them achieve their dreams and wanted to build a culture to reflect that.

A visionary and pioneer in the staffing industry, Rogers received multiple awards and accolades for growing a single-office staffing firm into a nationwide, commercial staffing franchise. Today, PrideStaff operates over 85 franchised and company-owned locations across the country, serving more than 5,000 clients. In 2021, PrideStaff was ranked #93 on Staffing Industry Analysts’ list of Largest Staffing Firms for a ninth consecutive year. Rogers was personally named to Staffing Industry Analysts’ Staffing 100 North America list for a fifth consecutive year.

Over the years, Rogers’ visions for growth and development also resulted in the launch of four additional divisions–PrideStaff Financial, Rx relief, Insurance Relief, and G.A. Rogers & Associates–each dedicated to serving niche areas within the staffing and recruiting industry. With the exception of G.A. Rogers & Associates, which was launched in 2021, all of PrideStaff’s divisions are recognized as multi-year winners of ClearlyRated’s coveted Best of Staffing Client and Talent Diamond Awards for outstanding satisfaction. This distinction places PrideStaff in the top 1% of its industry for service satisfaction–on par with Nordstrom and above the level of Amazon, Southwest, and Apple.

Throughout his career, Rogers always said that he wanted to make his life stand for something. While he could have sold his business at multiple points, he loved the work and cared deeply about the well-being of everyone who was part of the PrideStaff system–his Home Office staff, Strategic-Partners, their teams, and associates working on assignments. So instead of selling his organization, he chose to create a succession plan that would ensure PrideStaff’s long-term success – and that the work-family he created would live on in perpetuity.

Thanks to Rogers’ decisive actions and selection of a formidable leadership team, PrideStaff remains at the top of its industry and is poised to help businesses and individuals succeed for decades to come.

Continuing his legacy of giving: The George & Melodie Rogers Foundation

George Rogers always valued education and looked for opportunities to give back to his community. Now, the George & Melodie Rogers Foundation endowment to the Renaissance Scholars Summer Internship Program will help provide a pathway to success for former homeless and foster youth attending Fresno State. This generous gift carries on Rogers’ legacy of giving, allowing students to realize their academic and life goals.

Through the foundation, Melodie Rogers will work with Fresno State’s Renaissance Scholars Program to help former foster youth, unaccompanied homeless youth, orphan youth, and other independent youth earn a university degree and become leaders in the community.

A check for the Rogers’ $1 million endowment to Fresno State was presented to David Hembree, Director of Development, Division of Student Affairs CSU Fresno, and Fresno State President Saul Jimenez-Sandoval, Ph.D. on November 12th, 2021, at the tribute luncheon held at Fort Washington Country Club.

At the tribute luncheon, Melodie Rogers announced an initial pledge of $10 million to their private foundation. She will continue to make a $1 million donation each year on her husband George’s birthday, November 12th, to their selected charities and non-profit organizations.

“More than 23,000 children ‘age-out’ of foster care every year in the US and become instantly ‘independent’ and homeless,” stated Melodie Rogers. “Without support and guidance, fewer than 3% of those individuals will ever earn a college degree.”

“This endowment will provide Renaissance Scholars with viable internship opportunities, ample support and a generous financial stipend to build their confidence, experience and a more secure future,” continued Rogers. “George always had a burning desire to help those in his community and considered education to be extremely important, so I cannot think of a better way to honor his memory.”

About PrideStaff
PrideStaff was founded in the 1970s as 100% company-owned units and began staffing franchising in 1995. They operate over 85 offices in North America to serve over 5,000 clients and are headquartered in Fresno, CA. With over 40 years in the staffing business, PrideStaff offers the resources and expertise of a national firm with the spirit, dedication and personal service of smaller, entrepreneurial firms. PrideStaff is the only nationwide, commercial staffing firm in the U.S. and Canada with over $100 million in annual revenue to earn ClearlyRated’s prestigious Best of Staffing Diamond Award nine years in a row highlighting exceptional client and talent service quality.

About The George & Melodie Rogers Foundation
George A. Rogers had a lifelong passion for providing opportunities for people to create meaningful careers while supporting their families and themselves. He put that dream to work with PrideStaff. He founded PrideStaff in 1978 to help job seekers find worthwhile work, provide businesses with workforce resources, and improve the communities they serve.

The George & Melodie Rogers Foundation is a charitable organization established to continue the legacy of our founder, George A. Rogers. The foundation is committed to supporting the Fresno youth community by working with Fresno State’s Renaissance Scholars Program and other community programs.