Meet our U.S executive leadership team 

David Brown | Americas President, Chief Executive Officer USA

David, a 21-year veteran of the staffing business, has been in charge of overseeing all US operations for Hays since 2018. Prior to leading Hays US, David held a number of positions in sales, sales management, and senior management. With his wife and three children, David resides in Atlanta and actively supports a number of regional non-profit organisations. 

Connect with David.

Sue Hanlon | General Counsel

Sue leads the Legal function for Hays’ North American operations. She has been a member of The Florida Bar for over 20 years and is admitted to practice in the U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida. Sue has over 15 years of staffing industry experience; prior to joining Hays U.S. in 2011, she worked for a large publicly traded staffing firm directing the client contracts and independent contractor subcontracting functions. Additionally, she has prior in-house legal experience with a small broker dealer specializing in fixed-income securities and investment banking and with a large publicly traded computer software and hardware distributor. Sue is a two-time graduate of the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice and a Juris Doctor degree. She’s a Leadership Tampa Bay graduate and a member of the Association of Corporate Counsel. 

Outside of work, Sue likes to travel, spend time with her family and volunteer with Big Brothers Big Sisters, where she has been mentoring “Littles” for over 7 years. 

Connect with Sue. 

Shaun Cheatham | Chief Commercial Officer

Shaun is responsible for the creation and execution of sales strategies for Hays in the U.S.. Shaun is also charged with running the Major and National accounts organization for Hays U.S. With over 20 years of staffing industry experience, Shaun started his career with Hays in the Tampa office where he led the U.S. organization in sales six out of his ten years in production. Prior to Hays, Shaun worked at one of the largest staffing firms in the world where he held a number of Sales and Sales Leadership positions. Shaun resides in the Tampa area with his wife and daughter. 

Connect with Shaun. 

Aileen Gobes | Chief Financial Officer

Aileen is responsible for the accounting and finance function for all Hays businesses in the U.S.. She has over 30 years of progressive experience in accounting and began her career working for regional accounting firms on audits, taxes, and accounting system implementations. For 15 years, she was an accounting leader for a large publicly traded staffing firm, serving in multiple roles including Controller and VP of Client Services. Aileen’s leadership experience includes acquisitions and divestitures, SEC reporting, ERP system implementation and upgrades and order to cash management. Aileen is graduated from University of Florida and a Certified Public Accountant in the state of Florida, and she resides in Tampa. 

Connect with Aileen. 

Stephen Wilkes | Senior Vice President

Stephen leads the Hays Delivery Centre which provides recruiting services for National Accounts and Regional/ Market support. Prior to joining Hays, Stephen was an independent consultant advising organizations on strategy, change, and operating models. He has more than 25 years of leadership and business experience across various industries, including IT, Aerospace & Defense, Utilities, and Business Process Outsourcing. Stephen has a passion for building high performing teams with a focus on delivery excellence. He leverages his broad experience in establishing global shared services centres to deliver efficient, effective, and economic sourcing and recruiting expertise, with an eye on enhancing the client and candidate experience with Hays. 

Originally from the UK, Stephen moved to the United States at the end of 1999 and has settled, with his wife Sandra, on a small ranch in the rural area north of Dallas, Texas. Country life and horses are a big part of Stephen’s and Sandra’s lives and, at weekends, it would not be unusual to see him with a pitchfork in hand or riding around on his tractor! 

Connect with Stephen. 

Alex Powell | Executive Vice President

Alex is responsible for the Construction & Property, Engineering, HR, and Life Sciences business streams across the U.S.. With 20 years recruitment experience, Alex has managed businesses in the UK, New Zealand, Canada & the U.S. having helped set-up Hays in the latter two countries. During his career he has successfully led multi-discipline recruitment teams in multiple locations specifically setting up IT, Construction & Property, Accounting & Finance, and Engineering in the U.S. His experience covers temp & perm and utilizing both 360 & 180 recruitment models. Alex is a graduate of Anglia University (UK) with a BA (Hons) in Business, and since 2012 Alex has lived in New York City with his wife & daughter. 

Connect with Alex. 

Jodi Hon Senior | Vice President & Chief Sales Officer

Jodi is responsible of Sales at Enterprise Solutions and Hays’ Technology business sales and account management with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Organizational Management. Some of her expertise includes sales, business development, resource and succession planning, business operations and performance management. Her biggest passion is helping Hays drive a customer centric mindset and leveraging our breadth of solutions to become lifelong partners to our clients. Jodi lives in St. Louis with her husband and two daughters. Her third daughter is married and a teacher in Nashville, TN.

Connect with Jodi.