Managing Partner, Custom Business Solutions
By Maggie Matsko
The secret to how Tiffany Kapp, the managing partner at Custom Business Solutions (CBS), got to where she is today is this: she went through walls where there weren’t any doors.
From an early age, she exhibited the type of drive and determination that enables one to accomplish anything they set their mind to. At age 16, this student-athlete was juggling sports and studies when she decided to join the workforce. While working toward a college degree, she took on the challenge of serving as the assistant to the chief financial officer for an in-state university. After joining CBS as the administrative officer, she watched as four key employees left the company, leaving operations in upheaval, and she turned what began as one of the most challenging times in her young career into an opportunity to learn and grow.
“I took it one day at a time,” she says of what seemed like an impossible task. “I learned each employee’s position as they left the company that year. I went from administrative officer to operations officer and then became a partner in 2016. Having to work in each role taught me things about our business I would have never learned otherwise. It pushed me to get out of my comfort zone.”
Today, as the managing partner, Kapp oversees the entire operation of CBS, a company that provides professional employer organization—or PEO—services that help streamline its clients’ essential administrative business functions.
As a wife, mother and business partner, Kapp has continued to forge her own path. The bold decision to hire her husband as the director of development for CBS is what she considers to be the most adventurous thing she’s done to date.
“It was a daring move as a family of four to put all of our eggs in one basket,” she says of the decision. “Although it was scary, we took the leap of faith, and it has worked out for the best.”
Kapp is committed to working to make the world a better place. Her passion for community service was ignited in college when her fraternity, Delta Gamma, visited local nursing homes and provided support for the visually impaired. As a result, she now jumps in to help anytime she sees an opportunity.
At CBS, she leads the company’s efforts in supporting local nonprofit organizations that have a direct impact on the company’s community like the Women’s Resource Center and United Way. On a personal level, she donates her time to help with events in the community that raise money or assist the less fortunate. She is a member of the Children’s Home Society of West Virginia’s emergency shelter advisory council, which is the only special needs emergency shelter in West Virginia, and she is a volunteer at The Carpenter’s Corner, a local food pantry that provides free meals. She is also a member of the Beckley-Raleigh County Chamber of Commerce (BRCCC) ambassador committee, where she focuses on recruiting new members for the organization and helps with fundraisers for nonprofits, and St. Francis De Sales Catholic Church, where she serves on the collections committee.
Because Kapp is committed to making her hometown of Beckley the best place to live and work, she joined the BRCCC’s 2019 Leadership Beckley program, where community members are taught how to be stronger leaders and are given more opportunities to help their neighbors.
Kapp has a lot on her plate, but she also has big plans and doesn’t intend to slow down anytime soon. “What keeps me motivated even on the toughest days are my future goals and the excitement I get thinking about all the other things I want to accomplish,” she says. “Eventually, I would like to own other businesses that will help our current business and our clients.”
Being born and raised in Beckley, Kapp isn’t interested in pursuing success anywhere but here. “I love the people who live here and all the beauty that surrounds us,” she says. “I have been given opportunity after opportunity working in the Mountain State, and for that, I am very thankful.”
