Mark Perlberg was an individual who represented the best of humanity, achieving heights of success in business, creative pursuits and interpersonal relationships. His sudden passing from cardiac arrest on March 11 in Palm Beach Gardens, at age 68, produced an outpouring of grief, along with accolades from the business community and those whose lives he touched. At the time of his passing, he was a managing director at Rhode Island–based private equity firm Nautic Partners.
Throughout his life, Perlberg distinguished himself with his exceptional gifts and leadership skills. Born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in New Jersey, Perlberg graduated magna cum laude from the University of Rochester, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received his Juris Doctor degree from Boston College Law School, where he was a member of the Order of the Coif.
In high school, he acted in theater productions — including playing the lead in “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” — and was president of his senior class.
At the University of Rochester’s theater department, he met Diane Waldgeir. The couple married in 1979.
Perlberg thought seriously about becoming an actor but chose a path as a business litigation attorney.
His trajectory to private equity — and the professional employer organization (PEO) industry he would help shape — began after he left law and took a series of C-suite roles.
After co-founding a utility bill–processing payment system and negotiating its sale to Western Union, he joined Western Union Corporation in 1989 as area vice president for Latin America/Caribbean.
Perlberg relocated to Atlanta in 1996 to take senior leadership positions at John H. Harland Co., a check-printing company, and in 2000 at the recovery audit firm Profit Recovery Group (now PRGX).
In the early 2000s, he sought an opportunity to run a company for a private equity firm. Perlberg’s entrée into the PEO business came via an executive search firm connected with private equity seeking a leader for its newly acquired PEO, Oasis Outsourcing. He joined the West Palm Beach-headquartered Oasis in 2003 as CEO and president, spending 15 years steering Oasis into regional and national prominence. Before its sale to Paychex, Oasis was the nation’s largest privately held professional employer organization.
Terry Mayotte, founder and architect of Oasis, launched the company as part of Wackenhut in 1996. In 2003, he and his team partnered with a private equity firm to buy out from Wackenhut and establish Oasis as an independent entity. That same year, Perlberg came on board.
Mayotte, who served as CFO, says of his friend and business partner, “Mark’s influence continues to shape our choices and our culture, reminding us to lead with honesty, [and] integrity and to approach each day with gratitude and a bit of humility.”
Perlberg’s strong leadership and management team at Oasis were attractive to Paychex when it acquired the company in 2018.
“Mark’s unique understanding of the PEO industry and deep connections in it, along with the respect he had from the employees and clients of Oasis, made Mark a critical asset in our growth at Paychex in HR solutions and PEO,” says John Gibson, CEO and president of Paychex. “The scale of the business and quality of the team are what made Oasis unique and valuable to Paychex. Mark’s knowledge of the industry, his success and his genuine interest in helping others succeed made him an industry leader who will be greatly missed.”
Perlberg was vice president of PEO at Paychex from 2018 until March 2020.
Volunteering his leadership for NAPEO, the national trade organization of the PEO industry, Perlberg served on its board of directors and was chair of the board from 2013 to 2014.
Pat Cleary, former president and CEO of NAPEO, says of Perlberg, “Every contentious issue that came down the pike, he said, ‘I got it.’ He ran into every fire. He steered everybody through. He was brilliant and wise.”
In March 2020, Perlberg joined Nautic Partners, a private equity firm that had once acquired and sold Oasis.
Photo by Stacy Toeniskoetter
Scott Hilinski, managing director, recalls that when Perlberg took the position at Nautic Partners, he had wanted to spend more time with his family. “We said, ‘We’ll take all the Mark Perlberg we can get.’ He had incredible experience, a compassion for employees — it’s rare to have all his qualities. It was always better when Mark was around.”
His lifelong passion was theater. In South Florida, he found a theatrical home at Palm Beach Dramaworks.
For more than 15 years, he served on the board, and he was chairman for six years. He co-created the Master Playwright Series, where he prepared and delivered programs on the great playwrights. He was also a sponsor and executive producer of the Perlberg Festival of New Plays, and he directed the first play to be produced in the Studio Theatre at Dramaworks.
“He had a really good eye as a director,” says William Hayes, producing artistic director of Palm Beach Dramaworks. “He was a constructive critic and had a natural gift.”
Perlberg was instrumental in fundraising and negotiating the deal with the city to purchase the theater’s current home on Clematis Street. He also raised the national profile of the regional theater through his philanthropy.
Hayes says he and his wife, Dramaworks managing director Sue Ellen Beryl, considered Perlberg a friend and partner. “If we needed another opinion, even in our personal lives, Mark was our first call.”
Above all else, Perlberg was a devoted family man.
His widow, Diane, says of her late husband, “Mark always prioritized family and ensured a steady presence in our children’s lives. He attended all the events that were important to them.”
In addition to his wife of 45 years, Perlberg is survived by three children: son Matthew and his wife, Julie, of St. Louis; daughter Alison and her husband, David, of Atlanta; and son Steven and his wife, Rachel, of Berlin. He also leaves behind five grandchildren — Madelyn, Sienna, Ethan, Lucas and Max — his parents, Muriel and Bill, and his sister, Elyssa.
As a role model for his family, Diane says, “Mark’s legacy will be his core values of integrity, authenticity, devotion to family and philanthropy.”