LeadershipTeam
The HireQuest leadership team guides our company into the future. Together, they’re a veritable goldmine of knowledge, foresight, and innovation, bringing a combined 140 years of staffing experience to the table.
Mr. Hermanns has served as Chairman of the Board, President, and Chief Executive Officer of HireQuest, Inc., since July 2019. He has nearly 30 years of experience in the temporary staffing industry. Previously, he served as Chief Executive Officer and Secretary of HireQuest, LLC, after the company’s founding in 2002, and similar capacities for predecessor entities since July 1991.
Prior to founding HireQuest, Mr. Hermanns was the Chief Financial Officer of Outsource International, formerly known as Labor World USA, Inc., and an Assistant Vice President at NCNB National Bank, now Bank of America. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Finance from Barry University and achieved a Master of Business Administration in Finance from the University of Southern California.
In addition to his business ventures, Mr. Hermanns is also involved in a number of charitable pursuits. One of them is the Higher Quest Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to fighting global hunger in a sustainable way.
Mr. McAnnar is the Chief Legal Officer and Vice President of HireQuest, Inc. He has fulfilled these roles for both HireQuest, Inc., and its predecessor, HireQuest, LLC, since 2014. His work with HireQuest involves a range of legal affairs in different realms, including securities, employment, construction, insurance and finance, workers’ compensation, and intellectual property.
Previously, Mr. McAnnar served in the litigation departments of Carmody MacDonald, P.C., and Armstrong Teasdale, LLP, where he focused on complex commercial litigation, corporate, and employment law.
He is the co-founder of ArchCity Defenders, a non-profit organization in St. Louis, Mo., that led the push for change in Missouri’s municipal court system following the Ferguson unrest. For this work, Mr. McAnnar has received multiple awards, including the National Legal Aid & Defenders Association New Leaders in Advocacy Award and the Ina M. Boon Social Justice Award from the St. Louis City NAACP.
Mr. McAnnar graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Pittsburgh. He achieved his Juris Doctorate, magna cum laude, from St. Louis University School of Law, where he was inducted into the Alpha Sigma Nu Jesuit Honor Society and the Order of the Woolsack. Today, he is an Adjunct Professor at the Charleston School of Law.
Mr. Burnett brings over 30 years of diverse financial experience to HireQuest, where he will serve its primary stakeholders including franchisees, investors, customers, and team members.
Prior to joining HireQuest, Mr. Burnett was Chief Financial Officer for Ivy Asset Group, an alternative credit provider and investment bank that primarily serves some of the largest names in the consumer loan market. Prior to Ivy, Mr. Burnett served as Chief Financial Officer for a series of publicly-traded companies under the umbrella of BKF Capital Group, including Interlink Electronics, Inc. (Nasdaq:LINK), BKF Capital Group, Inc. (OTC:BKFG) and Ridgefield Acquisition Corp (OTC:RDGA).
Before that, Mr. Burnett served in various management positions with EnPro Industries, Inc. (NYSE:NPO), most recently as Vice President and Treasurer. EnPro is a diversified industrial technology company with $1.5 billion in global revenue. His history prior to EnPro includes a long stint as a Director at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and Senior Manager at Grant Thornton LLP.
Mr. Burnett received his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration (Accounting) from Old Dominion University, and a Master of Science degree in Taxation from Golden Gate University. He is both a Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Treasury Professional.
Mr. Smith is the Chief Accounting Officer of HireQuest, Inc. He joined HireQuest in the summer of 2019, during its merger with Command Center, where he had served as Chief Financial Officer. Through 2015, Mr. Smith was the Controller. From 2015 to 2017, he joined Southeast Staffing as their Vice President of Finance.
Prior to working in the temporary staffing industry, Mr. Smith worked as a Certified Public Accountant, primarily performing attestation work. He graduated cum laude from Lewis-Clark State College with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration.
Mr. Gianzanti is the Chief Information Officer of HireQuest, Inc. He also serves as Chief Information Officer for Bass Underwriters and Insurance Technologies. He is responsible for all technology initiatives for HireQuest, including strategic planning, vetting, valuation of the technologies of potential acquisitions, developing and maintaining software systems, and building efficiency through process improvement.
Mr. Gianzanti began developing systems in 1982. Since then, he has consistently leveraged the most powerful technologies available to support several industries, including transportation, manufacturing, insurance, and now staffing. Mr. Gianzanti and his teams push the boundaries of innovation and build cutting-edge systems that bring those companies to the forefront of technology, facilitating significant growth.
Amongst his many achievements, Mr. Gianzanti worked on the team tasked with building one of the first fingerprint matching systems for the FBI in 1985. While working for Norfolk Southern Railroad in the early ’90s, his team created software to assist in routing and improving fuel use efficiency. While working for TAPCO Underwriters in 2006, Mr. Gianzanti and his team built TAPSYS, a cutting-edge insurance underwriting platform that helped TAPCO grow significantly. Mr. Gianzanti now intends to bring that same level of innovation to the staffing industry, allowing HireQuest to move to the forefront of staffing tech.
Mr. Gerstner is the Vice President of Operations of HireQuest, Inc. He has nearly 25 years of experience in the temporary staffing industry.
He began his career in staffing in 1995 as a branch manager with Ameri-Temps in Atlanta, Ga. Upon their purchase by Ready Staffing in 1997, he became the Florida regional manager. He took on management of a broader territory in 2002 with Able Body Labor, and in 2007, he became their Director of Operations.
In 2010, MDT Personnel acquired Able Body Labor and Mr. Gerstner became the Vice President of Operations. He remained in that role with True Blue, following another acquisition in 2013.
Mr. Gerstner served in the United States Army as a military police officer. He currently resides in Tampa, Florida with his wife and two children and actively serves his community as a youth coach for football and basketball.
Mr. Neilson has worked in the staffing industry for 30 years. He has held several leadership positions such as Vice President for Snelling’s corporate operations from 2001 -2008 and Director of Sales for other top companies in the industry.
Mr. Neilson comes back to Snelling most recently from TrueBlue where he was Director of Operations for Staff Management | SMX from 2013 -2021 supporting large strategic on-site operations across the country.
Mr. Lindon is the Director of National Accounts at HireQuest, Inc. He has more than 20 years of experience in the temporary staffing industry.
His career with HireQuest began in February 1999, when he became a branch manager in Charlotte, N.C. Two years later, Mr. Lindon purchased his first franchised office in Charlotte.
Over the next 7 years, he purchased additional franchises in Lexington, Ky.; Charleston, S.C.; and Greenville, S.C. In September 2009, he sold his existing franchises back to HireQuest and accepted the role of Vice President of Operations.
Mr. Lindon received a Bachelor of Science in Health and Wellness from The Citadel in Charleston, S.C.
Mr. Hartley is the Director of Corporate Development for HireQuest. Prior to joining the company, Mr. Hartley spent nearly a decade in investment banking, most recently as a vice president at D.A. Davidson Companies. He worked intimately on the 2019 merger between HireQuest and Command Center.
Prior to his time as an investment banker, Mr. Hartley was a senior corporate development specialist for a medical device company and a business analyst for an insurance group. Mr. Hartley graduated with a Master of Business Administration from the New York University Leonard N. Stern School of Business. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts from the Johns Hopkins University.
Ms. Reese brings an extensive legal background to HireQuest’s Human Resources department.
Prior to joining our corporate leadership team, she served as a contract attorney for various clients as well as a general counsel and vice president of risk management for PeopLease/PLC Services.
A proud Bulldogs fan, Ms. Reese is a graduate of the University of Georgia, first for her Bachelor of Business Administration and later her Juris Doctorate from the School of Law, where she specialized in employment matters.