Leadership team

Canadian leadership team

The Hays Canada leadership team bring together decades of recruitment experience. As well-known thought leaders in the field, they provide insight and advice into the Canadian job market, specializing in key industries and sectors such as construction and property, information technology, accounting and finance, HR and real estate, to name only a few.

Our leaders are available for interview by request.

Travis O'Rourke, President of Hays Canada

Headshot of Travis O'Rourke Travis O’Rourke joined Hays 9 years ago after holding various leadership roles elsewhere in the Canadian staffing industry. Travis setup and established Hays' outsourced talent solutions business and played an integral role in building Hays’ temporary and contract divisions throughout Canada. Initially joining Hays with a deep background in Technology, he holds extensive cross functional knowledge to provide clients with talent solutions in Financial Services, Energy, Mining, Manufacturing, Retail, and the Public Sector.

Travis is the Toronto President of ACSESS (Association of Canadian Search, Employment, & Staffing Services) and sits on the board of directors for the National Association of Canadian Consulting Businesses (NACCB). He has been featured in segments with CBC On the Money, BNN The Open, CTV National and other news outlets. Like Hays, Travis is also passionate about corporate social responsibility and is an avid supporter for Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto.

Louisa Benedicto, Vice President - ISC Americas

As Hays Canada Vice President of the GTA, Louisa Benedicto oversees more than 70 recruitment consultants in both permanent and temporary/contract hiring, covering 12 specialisms including accounting and finance, construction and property, and IT. Louisa began her career with Hays in the UK in 2002 and moved to Japan in 2008 to help lead an acquisition, eventually being promoted to Business Director in 2012. Louisa moved to Canada in 2013 and was appointed VP in 2016. She is fluent in Spanish and Japanese, and was certified as a coach in 2016. As an expert in recruitment and hiring trends, Louisa has been featured on CBC On The Money, Huffington Post Canada, and in Canadian HR Reporter.

Jackie Burns, VP, Strategic Accounts & Service Delivery

Before Jackie emigrated to Canada in August 2004, she recruited for Accounting & Finance professionals in both the UK and then British Columbia, from entry level to Senior appointments for eight years. She was promoted to VP, Western Canada in January 2010 overseeing multiple specialisms in both the perm and contract recruitment space. In March 2016, Jackie was appointed Director, People & Culture (Americas) to support the integration of a newly acquired Hays business in the USA and working closely with the operations teams in Canada and LatAm. She has contributed to the continuous improvement of our hiring, L&D, internal employee experience programs and is one of our Change Methodology mentors across the region.

Jackie holds her CPHR designation and in 2021 returned to the Canadian business to lead the service delivery of our Hays Talent Solutions in the capacity of VP, Strategic Accounts & Service Delivery. Additionally, Jackie recently participated in our International Leadership & Management Program and is a member of the Hays Global ED&I Council. Outside of work you’ll find Jackie in the mountains hiking or snowboarding. She also enjoys spending time with her husband Russ and beagle Otis checking out a concert or the latest BC craft brewery.

Christine Wright, Senior Vice President | National Strategic Advisor

Christine Wright is responsible for the growth and expansion of teams across the US and Canada, while also leading strategic projects. Her current projects include the establishment and rapid growth of a national Cyber Security team, driving operational rigor to meet our customers’ needs. Christine is also focused on expanding the delivery center in Denver to service the increased demand from our West Coast customers. This is the latest function in her extensive 26 year career with Hays where she has lead the establishment, turnaround and management of high performing businesses across 4 continents.

Prior to her current role, Christine was the Managing Director of the Asia region where she was responsible for the day-to-day operational management and significant growth of Hays in Japan, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and India. Christine has also played a key role in the management of Hays’ business in Australia and the United Kingdom. She holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Statistics and Computing, as well as attended business programs at IMD, Ashridge, De Ruwenburg business schools. Christine currently lives in Denver with her husband and is an executive mentor in her spare time.

Ellisa Monk, Regional Director, West

Ellisa Monk has sixteen years of recruitment experience, fourteen of which have been spent working for Hays Specialist Recruitment. In 2006 Ellisa joined Hays in Chelmsford, UK to work within the Construction and Property division and then moved to Calgary, Alberta in August 2010 to initially set up the Construction and Property team. When Ellisa joined the Calgary office, she built a team of successful consultants that operated in specialist areas of the construction industry, while also becoming one of our top billing consultants.

Presently, Elisa’s job as Regional Director, West Region involves overseeing highly talented recruitment teams in Winnipeg, Edmonton and Calgary. Her position involves leading the day-to-day operations, the career development of staff and most importantly the service delivery Hays provides our clients and candidates. In these offices we have the capability to provide organizations with temporary and permanent staffing services across the Construction, Property, Accounting & Finance, IT, Office Professionals, Sales and Marketing and Mining sectors across Western Canada.