Co-CEO Link Staffing Services Corporation – Houston, Texas
Karen Pitts serves as the co-chief executive officer of Link Staffing Services, Inc, providing strategic, marketing and operational leadership for all Link divisions. Mrs. Pitts began her career in 1976 when she launched a start-up staffing company, Nurses PRN, Inc. Under her innovative leadership, Nurses PRN aggressively grew to include seven offices in six states in the first three years. Following Nurses PRN, Mrs. Pitts served as vice president of MedStaff, Inc., a large medical temporary staffing company. In 1980 she joined her husband, Bill Pitts, to build Link Staffing Services into a national industrial staffing company. Beginning with a small labor hall in downtown Houston, Mr. and Mrs. Pitts have grown Link Staffing Services into an Ernst and Young award-winning company with 50 locations serving thirteen states nationwide. At the national level, she is a past chairman, committee chair and board member of the American Staffing Association, the nation’s largest staffing trade association. She dedicates her time in the promotion of business interest and issues, serving on the Foundation Board for the Committee of 200, the professional organization of preeminent businesswomen who exemplify and promote entrepreneurship and corporate leadership among women. Mrs. Pitts is frequently quoted in industry publications and has been honored by Working Woman Magazine as directing one of the “Top 500 Women-Owned Businesses.” At the state level, she is a past president of the Texas Association of Staffing. Mrs. Pitts also is active in the Greater Houston Partnership, The Executive Women’s Partnership and is on the Board of Chantal Cookware, and Advisory Board of Goodwill Industries. In 1999, the Greater Houston Partnership honored Mrs. Pitts as the “Entrepreneur of the Year.” And 2000 received the Ernst and Young “Entrepreneur of the Year Award.” In 2005, Link Staffing received the # 1 Small Business Award from the Houston Business Journal.
