In honor of International Women’s Day, we’re highlighting one of our very own incredible female leaders: Jerra Swenson!
As of January 28, 2026, Jerra is now our Director of Payroll and Benefits. This well-deserved promotion lines up perfectly with Jerra’s eight-year Border Foods anniversary. We sat down with Jerra to learn about her career journey, what a day in her life looks like and what she loves most about her new position.
Meant to Be
Jerra originally found herself at Border after a layoff from another food and beverage company. She recalls receiving a LinkedIn message from a Border recruiter a few months after she left her previous position, inquiring about her interest in a position with the company. Jerra immediately jumped at the opportunity.
Jerra shares that she was fearful she was being scammed — working at Border seemed almost too good to be true! She now knows that working here really is just that good.
During her onboarding, Jerra was immediately entrusted with a big responsibility: switching Border from one payroll software to another. Although the project was a lot of work, Jerra shares that creating things from the ground up truly made her an expert in the new system — an experience she’s still grateful for today.
Success is for everybody here.
Jerra Swenson, Director of Payroll and Benefits
Being Intentional
Rather than being quickly thrown into the Director role, Jerra’s transition was a slower, more relaxed one. Due to maternity leave and completing some additional training, Jerra’s promotion happened in stages. Doing it this way ensured that Jerra felt ready to take on the new title, and she appreciates that her promotion was conducted with such thought and care.
As a Director, Jerra now oversees four people: two Payroll Specialists, one Payroll/Benefits Specialist and a Benefits Manager. With such a robust team, we assumed it must be easy for things to get hectic, but Jerra assured us that that isn’t the case.
“They’re easy!” she says of her direct reports. “They’re such a good team.”
As for Jerra’s favorite part of the role? Problem solving! She loves to take a challenge, play around with it and find a solution that makes things easier for everyone.
Jerra, your promotion is so well deserved. We’re excited to see you grow and thrive as a Director!
