I have 6 years experience in the staffing industry focused on placing IT professionals any way you can think of. I've managed new office startups and large sales teams, but here's a little about me from the beginning of my time:

I was born and raised in a small NW suburb of Chicago (Crystal Lake) where I walked to school everyday and learned that if there's a will there's a way (thanks Mom). My Grandpa was the milk man of Crystal Lake back when there was a such a thing and he made sure people had the necessities even if he didn't make a buck. With that upbringing and with lessons learned from my high school basketball coach (I hear his voice in my sleep still, JONES get on the line...) I developed a willingness to always lend a hand and jump into fires whenever possible.

After high school, I went on to Community College where I played Basketball (#9 in scoring my Soph. year) and met my future wife. She brought me back down to planet earth (see aforementioned comment) and taught me to always have a plan in mind. We went on to Northern Illinois University where I majored in Marketing and got accepted into NIU's Professional Sales program. I was an RA in college helping a diverse pool of males achieve success in their studies and in the community. I graduated a semester early and took a job with a little known IT recruiting firm.

Over a 5 year period I worked for a great company that offered great training and development. During that time we grew its revenues from $80M to $400M which put the company in the "Top 10" of IT Staffing Firms. I worked in 3 offices in 5 years helping develop and train recruiters while leading business development activities. During my last 30 months I pioneered the opening of an office for them in Milwaukee, WI.

I left to work for a company that offered a unique perspective on recruiting and staffing. I had a deep desire to return to Chicago to tackle the IT market here locally and they had 20+ other offices but not one in Chicago. My goal is to develop a list of clients who see staffing firms as true partners that will allow me to match some great talent for them. It will be a fun and challenging ride with the amount of competitors in Chicago but nothing beats working in the "Windy City"!