Meet the Team
Kathy VanderHouwen
CEO
Kathy is a strong and savvy business owner with over 30 years of experience. From formal management roles at Boeing to founding her own marketing startup in the 80s, Kathy has a knack for managing others with a smile. VanderHouwen started...
Eric VanderHouwen
President
As VanderHouwen’s President and co-owner, Eric’s work ethic serves as the foundation of the company and drives our individualized approach which defines our culture. Prior to joining his father’s company in 1992, Eric worked in...
Brian Hathaway
Chief Operating Officer
Brian joined the company in 2003 following a distinguished career as a Pilot in the US Navy and later with United Airlines. His leadership and dedication were a big part of the company’s overall success, and in 2011 he was promoted into his current role as COO. Brian values...
Cindy Nuttbrock
Chief Financial Officer
I began my accounting career over 30 years ago in the commercial printing industry, moved to printing and packaging, and more recently to the staffing industry. My greatest joy has…
Geoff Smith
Sr. Vice President, Account Management and Business Development
Geoff has been in the staffing industry since 1994 with an extensive background in recruiting, management, and account development. Always thinking from his client’s perspective, Geoff works hard to provide excellent service to...
Brett Kadz
Sr. Vice President, Recruiting
Brett has been a staffing and human resources professional since 1998. What makes VanderHouwen unique is our value of long-term relationships and going the extra mile to understand the needs of our candidates, clients, and...
Vada Zedlar
Vice President, Account Management
Vada has been in the Accounting & Finance world since 1997. In 2010 she joined VanderHouwen to build the new Accounting & Finance Division. Vada’s professionalism, big-picture thinking and...
Kerry Chaney
Vice President, Recruiting
Since 1999, Kerry has worked hard to develop many wonderful, long-term relationships by being a part of her candidates' careers from the beginning. She finds it exciting to...
Brad Fisch
Vice President, Business Development
Brad has been in the staffing industry since 1997 works hard to fulfill his client’s needs. Being an Account Manager can be very stressful at times, so you can always count on Brad to boost morale with dance...
John Niemer
Vice President, Account Management
Born and raised in Seattle, John has been in the services industry since 1989. John loves to see how different companies operate and strongly values taking care of his clients so they can grow and succeed. John enjoys the team that...
Denver Freeman
Sr. Account Manager
Denver started his career in IT talent solutions in 2008 and believes in a simple philosophy: for clients and candidates to be successful, they must be “First to the Best” in recruiting and career opportunities. Denver has...
David Rasler
Sr. Account Manager
David began his staffing career in 2007 with a large international company. As a social being, David has found his niche in this industry. David joined VanderHouwen because we started as a small, local, family-owned business and...
Jennifer Boyle
Account Manager
Jennifer began her staffing career in 2010 with VanderHouwen starting in administration. Since then, Jennifer has worked hard and joined the business development team partnering on the day-to-day management of...
Andrea Peer
Account Manager
Andrea has been in the staffing industry since 2000 and loves finding people their dream job. She has a knack for making connections and building trust with her candidates through genuine interest in their...
Nick Lisac
Account Manager
Nick comes to VanderHouwen with many years of business development experience and a passion for people - helping and improving lives is what gets him up in the morning. Nick is a high-energy go-getter and his motto...
John-Paull Davidson
Account Manager
Nick comes to VanderHouwen with many years of business development experience and a passion for people - helping and improving lives is what gets him up in the morning. Nick is a high-energy go-getter and his motto...
Christina Nolan
Program Manager
Christina joined VanderHouwen as their Front Desk Receptionist after relocating from Hawaii in 2012. Since then, she has grown tremendously within the company and is now...
Andrew Owen
Sr. Recruiter & Account Manager
Andrew is passionate about his family, wife, friends, and recruiting. He’s had a love affair with the recruiting business for many years and has been with VanderHouwen for most of them. The high of the placement...
Andrew Elder
Lead Recruiter
Andrew is an experienced Recruiter with a passion for technology. He is interested in reforming the recruiting perception from one of a necessary evil to one that facilitates both sides of the table with straightforwardness and...
Tami Platt
Sr. Recruiter
Tami has been in the staffing industry since 2008 and comes from an expert background of personalized customer service. Fulfilled by positively changing lives, she has an uncanny ability to quickly build trust through empathy and...
Brandon McIntire
Sr. Recruiter
Since 2007, Brandon has been working with startups through Fortune 100 companies in client support, sales, and recruiting roles in the Portland Metro area. He began recruiting with VanderHouwen in early...
Charlie Baumann
Sr. Recruiter
Charlie joined VanderHouwen in 2013 with a diversified recruiting background. A job can be critical to a person’s life which is why Charlie firmly believes in making each relationship personal and...
John Hamilton
Sr. Recruiter
John is an Oregon State graduate and has been in technical recruiting since 1993. After living in Atlanta since 1998, John relocated to Portland to be closer to his family. He has a passion for meeting people, forming relationships, and ensuring a good fit for his clients...
Taylor Koll
Sr. Recruiter
Taylor started his career as a Technical Recruiter in 2014 and hasn’t looked back since. He enjoys the process of learning about people’s skills and aspirations and matching them up with their dream job. From the application to the...
Mary Lavin
Sr. Recruiter
Mary joined VanderHouwen in 2016 with a background in engineering and technical recruiting. A genuine interest in helping people attain "better" for themselves affords Mary the ability to create improved livelihood opportunities for people of our community. Empathy, commitment, a warrior mentality...
Christina Blasingame
Sr. Recruiter
After 12 years of being a stay-at-home mom of 4 kids, I dove headfirst into the recruiting world. I was given an opportunity to help a friend start a small staffing...
Kristin McIntire
Sr. Recruiter
Kristin is a Portland native who began her recruiting career in 2014. Kristin loves recruiting because she gets to be a professional match maker – spending every day helping...
Isaac DeMaine
Recruiter
Isaac joins VanderHouwen after 3 years working as an in-house Recruiter in Spokane, WA. After a few years of building up his career, he decided it was time for a change and wanted to move...
Vinny Sokalski
Recruiter
Isaac joins VanderHouwen after 3 years working as an in-house Recruiter in Spokane, WA. After a few years of building up his career, he decided it was time for a change and wanted to move...
Denny McDonald
Recruiter
Denny jumped into the recruiting world because he loves making connections and helping people reach their goals. Denny earned his Master’s degree in Psychology in 2014 and is an adept career coach. Talking to Engineers daily...
Rose O’Neal
Recruiter
Rose started out her recruiting career at a young age for a tiny company in the St. Johns community of Portland. She quickly gained a passion for helping individuals find…
Laury Forest
CEO
Kathy is a strong and savvy business owner with over 30 years of experience. From formal management roles at Boeing to founding her own marketing startup in the 80s, Kathy has a knack for managing others with a smile. VanderHouwen started...
Ashley Kuenzi
Recruiter
Ashley moved to Portland from Scottsdale, Arizona in the summer of 2018 to continue her career in the staffing industry. Before moving, she worked for a large recruiting firm helping fill job...
Christopher McBride
Recruiter
Christopher is a problem solver. One of the things he enjoys most about being a recruiter is constantly searching and having to overcome obstacles to be successful. The feeling of accomplishment by using creative tactics to...
Macaela Weast
Recruiter
Macaela moved to Portland from California in March of 2019. She is passionate about working with a team towards a common goal and thinks the most rewarding part of her job is having a...
Ryan Codling
Recruiter
Ryan is a native Portlander and comes from a large extended family. He attended college at Grand Canyon University where he received a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with an emphasis...
Sara Powell
Consultant Services Director
Sara has been a part of the IT staffing community since 1999. She has worked with consultants in the Pacific Northwest and has been a visible part of the IT community most notably in recruiting and employee relations. Sara is responsible...