Independent advisory,
built the long way.
Blue Ocean Benefits was founded by Kim Trowbridge, a California-based advisor and business owner with more than two decades of hands-on experience across the payroll, PEO, HCM, and employee benefits industry.
Built from payroll. Focused on people.
Kim Trowbridge started in payroll. He built AmCheck into a leading payroll and HR services company, then sold it to iSolved in 2018. That operator's perspective — running payroll, managing compliance, sitting in the client's chair — is what separates Blue Ocean Benefits from typical brokerages.
We were spawned out of that payroll company to deliver something better: a single team that handles benefits, HR strategy, and PEO consulting under one roof. Our clients don't just get plan quotes. They get a partner who understands how benefits connect to payroll, compliance, and the day-to-day work of managing employees.
Kim also founded Blue Ocean Consulting, an independent HCM and PEO advisory, and TRG to help California businesses access workforce training funds. Together, these companies form a bench of operators who have implemented hundreds of HCM platforms, negotiated PEO renewals for groups from 5 to 500+ employees, and helped California employers replace fragmented systems with something simpler and measurably less expensive.
20+
Years of industry experience
CA
Serving all of California
Independent
Vendor-neutral advice for better decisions
Benefits is the front door.
The whole house is behind it.
Blue Ocean Benefits grew out of AmCheck, a leading payroll company Kim built and sold. We operate alongside Blue Ocean Consulting and Blue Ocean Payroll — a single bench of specialists who design your benefits program alongside your payroll, HR, and compliance systems, not in isolation.
Blue Ocean Benefits
Employee benefits strategy, plan design, and full administration for California employers.
Blue Ocean Consulting
PEO evaluation, HR compliance, and workforce infrastructure design for growing companies.
Blue Ocean Payroll
Payroll processing, time & labor, and integrated HCM technology under one platform.