Creative Staffing Agency | PDX, LA, Austin, Boise

Jackie Mathys

has been running creative staffing agencies in Portland since the late 90s. Prior to placing creatives, she was one–a freelance copywriter for seven years, and staff writer for POWDER magazine before that. Originally from sunny Southern California, Jackie has called Portland home since 1990. Her first car was a yellow Fiat 128.

Steve Potestio

grew up in Portland, worked in San Francisco as a graphic designer and writer, and has advertising agency executive management experience in HR and Operations. He launched Portland's first independently owned creative staffing firm and now manages the growth of M+P, helping build it into one of the country's fastest growing staffing agencies. His first car was a 1969 Scout, but he's since upgraded to a 1977 model. Neither car does much in the heater department.

Nicole Anderson

is a native Californian who landed in Portland in 2007, and has considered it home ever since. She brings to M+P a background in digital marketing, human resources, and management at Fortune 100 companies, and loves using her experience and powers for good in helping candidates find the right fit. She can also be found volunteering for cancer-related causes, life coaching, enjoying live music over a glass of local wine or beer, and escaping with the occasional Netflix marathon. Her first car was a 1985 red Honda CRX with no backseat, yet somehow still managed to magically transport people and cargo.

Crissy Coleman

is a native Oregonian who’s been recruiting for most of her adult life. For a stint, she lived the big life in a tiny but fabulous apartment in New York, doing recruiting in-house for one of the world’s largest luxury retail brands. But Oregon had her heart. Today, Crissy specializes in working with digital media professionals and has developed a genuine passion for helping set people on their true career paths and realize their professional goals. When not meeting candidates over a cappuccino, Crissy can be found sunning herself in exotic locales (a glass of crisp Pinot Gris in hand) or sweating it out in a spin class (if she must). A true Portlander, she always spends Sundays at brunch with good friends.

Dave Couzens

grew up in the mean streets of Detroit Rock City’s suburbs. He has a background working in various support and account management roles with staffing and vendor management agencies over the last 10 years. He enjoys viewing sports, taking hikes and indulging in PDX’s food and craft beer scene. His first car was a 1990 Ford Probe with a working heater.

Sherry Gutell

is an LA native. She won't share her favorite taco spot with you unless she really likes you. Her background includes various roles in marketing and advertising on the agency side, plus a short period of entrepreneurship. After a year and a half of running her own business, she concluded that she missed paydays and prefers to work for someone else. Her first car was a black C240 Mercedes Benz... did we mention she’s from LA?

Molly Hitchings

is like everyone else from Austin by being a California native. She has a background in graphic communication, web and digital media. Her loves include typography, craft beer, being outside, and dancing in a studio or her kitchen. She also has a passionate affinity for baked goods. Her first car was an Acura that died more than it ran, forcing her onto a cruiser bike more often than not.

Michelle Holbein

is a Wisconsin native with a human resources background in both manufacturing and higher education. Her loves include hiking and exploring new places, checking out new eateries, and daydreaming about her next travel destination. Her first car was a 1987 Mercury Topaz with a working heater, which was essential to surviving many brutal Wisconsin winters.

Nicole Holle

is one of four Austin natives left in town, having worked as a producer at an ad agency before landing in creative recruiting. She’s married to a designer, so she’s always surrounded by creatives. You can get her attention quickly by mentioning hiking, traveling abroad, movies, or pouring a drink involving ginger beer. Her first car was a ’95 Izuzu Rodeo, but her most beloved car was a white ’96 Oldsmobile named Betty.

Natalie Holzer

hails from the Big Sky state and considers Montana her first love, although living in Oregon for the past 15 years, she now considers it mapped in her heart for good! Her love of creative started with her background as a local film & television talent agent here in Portland. When she’s not lusting for the sunshine, she can either be found at a happy hour, watching Dateline, or out for a stroll/hike. Her first car was an Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme which made friends with a few city light poles while trying to navigate the mean, snowy streets of Billings, but the heater and tape deck never failed her.

Eric Howes

is a designer and (sort of) developer who likes type, maps, and other forms of data. His favorite color, even though it’s technically not a color, is grey. He moved from Michigan, where people regularly drive through snow. He bought his first grey car for $200, which had a heater that worked for awhile.

Jordan Livingston

was raised in Ogden, Utah, and has a varied professional background, having worked in journalism, ecommerce, sales, recruiting and education. He loves facilitating relationships and becomes quite excited about any conversation that involves baseball or rock-and-roll trivia. His first truck was a 1984 Mazda pickup. He had to pop the clutch to get it started…but the heater worked.

Blaire Ottoboni

brings a background in digital marketing and a passion for company culture to M+P. When not out exploring the menus at her favorite PDX restaurants, you might find her at yoga or hopping on a plane to somewhere far, far away. She mastered the art of driving a pickup truck out near the garlic fields in Gilroy at the age of 11.

Ben Peterson

grew up in the Bay Area, cheering for the steroid-fueled Oakland A’s of the late 1980s. He has a background in communications consulting and writing, previously serving as principal partner of his agency, Peterson Skolnick & Dodge. Ben brings communications expertise in the areas of education, arts and culture, health care, law, and fundraising. He’s a little too into sports, especially when it comes to his alma mater’s football team, the USC Trojans. His first car was a yellow 1980 Ford Futura that only worked about half the time. Oh, and he wants you to know that he’s bowled a perfect game.

Hannah Risser-Sperry

is from Massachusetts and Vermont, and spent some years in France before making her way to Portland. She’s been a nanny, a farmer, a teacher, and a writer. She likes good design, better writing, and Our Lord and Savior PJ Harvey. She dislikes pastels. Her first car was a Toyota Previa, previously used to transport sheep around the family farm. Go ahead, try getting hay out of a car’s cloth interior.

Molly Setchko

was born and raised in Eugene, OR. She hung up her Birkenstocks and tie dye and headed to Portland a few years ago, but you’ll still find her at Autzen Stadium during Duck football season! She has a background in special education, talent acquisition, all things office and admin, and is now diving in to the creative world. When she’s not at work with her M+P fam, she’s most likely playing with the nearest dog, snacking on a variety of cheeses, doing hot yoga, or gardening.

Brett Thacher

has a history of solving client problems as an agency account director, where he and his teams led marketing programs for Fortune 100 companies. Raised in Iowa, he traded his farm roots for the big cities of New York and LA before he settled in Portland. Brett loves camping, hiking, college basketball, live music and impromptu dance parties with his daughter. His first car was a 1981 Datsun 200sx hatchback.

Tom Timmel

is from Rockford, Illinois, but he doesn’t remember it. He grew up in New York and Ohio, spent time in Washington DC and Vermont, and ended up in Alaska for 20+ years. He’s spent time as a business manager, an operations manager, an executive director (interim, but still), and a general manager. His first car was a red 1982 VW Rabbit that had faded to orange, which was sadly destroyed by a deer (RIP) en route to a Dead show. #TommyTimmy

Grace Tuss

is an Oregon native and wanted to be a personal trainer before she settled for a career in HR and Recruiting. She spends most of her time having dance parties with her son Anthony (AKA Boogie) and sunning herself on a boat at Detroit Lake. Oh and not to brag, but her first car was a Chevy Malibu that matched her cell phone.

Jessica Vandermeer

is an Oregon native (rare in the wild but plentiful in our Portland office!) who came to us from a long line of tech startups. She's worked in business development, event marketing, and was a freelancer for a time. When not cooking or drinking wine, she's traveling all over the world (and drinking wine). Her first car was a hand me down 1989 Honda Civic hatchback that she totaled when she hit... a parked car.

Our research indicates that staffing agencies don't need to suck.

Jackie Mathys

Steve Potestio

Nicole Anderson

Crissy Coleman

Dave Couzens

Sherry Gutell

Molly Hitchings

Michelle Holbein

Nicole Holle

Natalie Holzer

Eric Howes

Jordan Livingston

Blaire Ottoboni

Ben Peterson

Hannah Risser-Sperry

Molly Setchko

Brett Thacher

Tom Timmel

Grace Tuss

Jessica Vandermeer

The Latest

Design For Good & Wilde Town: Telling the Story of Our LGBT Pioneers

Blog

6 Bits of Career Advice I’d Give To My Scared 21-Year-Old Self

Fired. Not Hired.

Potestio Ponders: “I Hate Your Industry”

Portland, OR

Austin, TX

Los Angeles, CA

Boise, ID