Staffing World^® and THRIVE Live 2025, held last week in Orlando, FL, were among the most successful and well-attended staffing events in recent industry history and featured the largest expo hall in the business. At the ASA annual convention and expo, keynote presentations by U.S. Olympian Katie Ledecky and Wall Street veteran and growth adviser Carla Harris, plus an information-packed, expert-led panel discussion on staffing strategies for the AI revolution, were among the highlights amid more than 40 breakout sessions, various networking events, and (of course) puppies.

Whether you missed it or you experienced it for yourself and want to review the highlights, take a moment to enjoy the photo collections from Staffing World and THRIVE Live—an amazing week for the ASA community. Download your favorite photos and post them on LinkedIn and other social media channels. Be sure to use the hashtag #StaffingWorld or #ASATHRIVE, and tag ASA in your posts. And mark your calendar for Staffing World 2026, Oct. 12–14 in Denver, preceded by THRIVE Live 2026 Oct. 11–12.

At the annual membership meeting held last week during Staffing World^®, the ASA annual convention and expo, association members elected eight directors:
Joanie Bily, Dress for Success
Jeff Harris,Tential
Stacey C. Lane, CSP, Staffmark
Chris Layden, Kelly
Jason Leverant, CSP, AtWork Group
Janette Marx, Airswift (immediate past chair)
Kelly McCreight, CSP, Hamilton-Ryker
Joyce Russell, Adecco Group US Foundation

The board elected officers:
Tom Gimbel, TDT Enterprises, chair
Jeff Bowling, Four Piers Capital Partners, first vice chair
Ken Taunton, CSC, The Royster Group, second vice chair
Dana Baughns, Allegis Group, treasurer
Jason Leverant, CSP, AtWork Group, secretary

Other directors currently serving on the board include Threase Baker, CSP, Abbtech Professional Resources Inc.; Andrea Brenholz, ATR International; Jeffrey S. Burnett, CSP, Labor Finders International Inc.; Benjamin “Ben” Elliott, Randstad; James A. Essey, CSP, TemPositions Group of Cos.; Karenjo Goodwin, Exact Staff Inc.; Laura MacNeel, Aya Healthcare; Robin Mee, MeeDerby; Ranjini Poddar, Artech LLC; Mark Toth, CSP, ManpowerGroup; Steve Wehn, AMN Healthcare; and DeLibra Wesley, National Recruiting Consultants. Representatives from independent firms and national companies serve on the board of directors. For brief bios, visit americanstaffing.net.

The ASA board of directors and staff welcome the following new members, which joined during the week ending Oct. 5.

Lucid Staffing Solutions
Boston, MA
Tekaccel
Little Elm, TX

ASA Central—the dynamic online community just for staffing professionals—is home to more than 27,000 staffing professional profiles and countless ongoing industry conversations.

This week, take a look at your colleagues’ discussions and some of the blogs they’ve posted on ASA Central:

• Client referral programs
• Ideas for how to reimagine staffing
• New effective date for catch-up contributions to 401(k) plans

Get involved with the community—update your profile today so you can network with colleagues, join a section community, recommend and comment on your colleagues’ posts, and share your own blog or discussion post. Log in to ASA Central now.

The association’s quarterly Staffing Employment and Sales Survey for the third quarter of 2025 is now open. Staffing companies that complete the brief survey—including search and placement firms—will have access to an exclusive report on the results, enhanced with graphs. The report, which participants can download from the ASA website, also includes an executive summary, plus sales category and sector-level data.

The data collected by this survey enable ASA to track staffing sales and gross margin trends and provide direct hire metrics. Participate in the ASA Staffing Employment and Sales Survey by Nov. 21 to get the staffing industry information you’re looking for.

Register to take the survey, or view the questionnaire, at americanstaffing.net/quarterly-survey. If you have questions or did not receive a survey link, email research@americanstaffing.net. There are no fees to participate.

Staffing firms increasingly face client demands to be indemnified against various types of liability, but companies should not assume risks related to their client’s business and should not take on liability for the client’s own products and services.

To help staffing companies protect themselves, ASA developed a tool kit containing various resources to help staffing firms that face unreasonable client indemnification demands.

The tool kit includes resources such as a risk philosophy document you can share with clients, suggested contract language, articles, a presentation slide deck, and more—access the ASA Indemnity Tool Kit at americanstaffing.net.