Meet the Team

Nicholas is a native Oregonian but decided to take his swimming interests to California where he attended Pepperdine University and focused on business studies.  He was a member of Pepperdine’s NCAA Division I water polo team when it placed third and fourth nationally.  In the summer of 1991, he studied and served as a resident teacher’s assistant in the Pepperdine international study program in London, UK.  Business courses emphasized the European Community and the imminent formation of the EU and the EC92 Treaty.  That same year, he graduated with a BS in Business Administration. 

Throughout college, Nicholas worked for a couple of local Portland law firms which had an emphasis on Bankruptcy and Employment practice areas.

After College, Nicholas began his Staffing career as a sales/account representative for a regional staffing firm in Seattle.  Competitive and entrepreneurial, he leveraged this early career success and experience into a start-up company in Portland with a focus on environmental engineering and I.T. temporary staffing.  Clients included public and private companies.  He later joined an international recruiting and placement firm to oversee and direct that company’s Oregon I.T. Division.  For five years, he developed a deep and growing understanding of our Silicon Forest high-tech clientele, managing the corporate division staff. 

In 1998, he took his expertise and joined Staffing Solutions, LLC, establishing this company’s I.T. and Technical staffing arm to extend and complement the already established Legal & Professional Division of staffing service offerings.  I.T. Clients range from Fortune 500 blue chips to mezzanine-level technology companies.  In 2001, Nicholas became an equity holder in the company.

Outside of work, with family ties from New Orleans, LA while living and commuting between New Orleans and Portland he embraced the unique culture of The Crecent City and joined several Krewe organizations that revolved around Carnival Season and Mardi Gras including Orpheus, Endymion, and Zulu.

Nicholas’ hobbies and interests include swimming, being an environmentally-destructive golfer, and watching College football.

Karin, a native Oregonian, began her career in retail before transitioning into staffing and corporate roles, quickly establishing herself as a high-performing leader. At Kelly Services, she specialized in clerical and light industrial staffing, managing three of the company’s top ten clients, including Xerox—its largest account. Her success led to the creation of an Onsite Manager role for Xerox, which she pioneered while also managing the Hillsboro branch.

In 1996, Karin was recruited by Xerox to serve as a Project Manager in both local and international accounts, where she excelled until company-wide layoffs in 2000 and prompted her to relocate to Los Angeles as a Federal Account Executive. In this role, she successfully managed the greater Los Angeles region and Clark County, Nevada.

During the recession, Karin continued to excel across diverse roles, including ranking among the top three sales performers in a male-dominated forklift sales team. She later returned to the corporate and technology sector with Time Warner Cable (now Charter/Spectrum), where she was promoted three times over a 12-year tenure to launch new markets in Los Angeles, San Diego, and the Carolinas. She concluded her tenure by relocating back to Oregon to be closer to family.

Known for her strong interpersonal skills and collaborative leadership style, Karin consistently builds trusted relationships and inspires teams to achieve ambitious goals. She is an accomplished executive leader with extensive experience in operations, project management, sales, and market expansion across staffing, technology, and telecommunications.  Karin has built her career through consistent performance, strategic insight, and relationship-driven leadership.

In her free time, she enjoys traveling, paddle boarding, reading, and volunteer work.

Cindy is an Oregon native who has lived in the Portland metropolitan area most of her life, aside from attending high school in Springfield. After graduating, she returned to Portland to attend Northwest College of Business. She began her career with Montgomery Ward in the Sales Auditing Department, where she worked for more than nine years until the department relocated to California and her position was eliminated.

Cindy then joined Janus Youth Programs, a local nonprofit organization, where she managed accounts payable and payroll. Over the next 20 years, she advanced to the role of Accounting Manager, developing extensive experience in nonprofit financial operations and leadership. Following an organizational downsizing that eliminated middle-management roles, Cindy transitioned to an Accounting Manager position with a drug and alcohol treatment program. When the organization’s largest office was sold to a nonprofit organization, and her role was reduced to part-time, she began exploring new opportunities.

After more than two years working in temporary assignments through a staffing agency, Cindy was contacted by one of the principals at Staffing Solutions regarding a Controller position. She interviewed later that week and began work the following Monday. Cindy has now happily been with Staffing Solutions for more than 11 years.

Outside of work, Cindy is a longtime Portland Winterhawks fan and has held season tickets since the 1984–85 season. She enjoys traveling, watching movies, and spending time at home with her three dogs and one cat.

With over 30 years in the Staffing Industry, Zeta has an interesting background and overall experience in life.

Her earliest exposure to the working world came from her time at local sawmills, where she worked to earn money for high school and college tuition. These formative experiences shaped her understanding of the challenges faced in physically demanding environments and motivated her to seek opportunities beyond manual labor. Still impressionable, Zeta decided a life of working the dangerous mills was not for her. She joined the white-collar world as a clerical assistant with Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith, Inc.

She returned to office clerical placement with the same employer, a sector in which she would find her niche.  Zeta succeeded as no other had before her; of her employer’s 1,800 national offices and thousands of recruiters, Zeta was the top-ranked producer in nine of her 13 years at the firm. 

When the company closed its Portland offices, she started her own full-service recruiting company, Firm Solutions, in 1990 with a client base of over 400 companies.  Later, in 1996, she merged her full-time placement expertise with Carol Martin Sommers’ temporary industry knowledge and opened Staffing Solutions, LLC with a focus on Legal Recruiting and placement.

Carol Martin Sommers is a retired staffing executive and  founder with more than forty years of experience in the temporary staffing industry. Her career began in 1978, when she took on the role of branch manager for a large national staffing firm. At that time, the Portland area was served by only seven temporary help companies, a stark contrast to the more than one hundred firms operating today.

In 1981, Carol founded her own independent temporary service company. Through her leadership and vision, she grew the business successfully and, by 1989, sold it to a national firm at the height of its prosperity. A In 1992 she was recruited to launch the legal staffing division for a regional firm in the Pacific Northwest, further deepening her expertise in specialized staffing solutions.

Motivated by her ambitious spirit, Carol joined forces with  Zeta Rennie in 1996 to establish Staffing Solutions, LLC. This privately owned, family-oriented firm specializes in legal, business services, and administrative staffing, offering both temporary and full-time placement services. Recognizing the evolving demands of the industry, Carol and Zeta expanded the company in 1998 by adding Nicholas Martin to the team, thereby strengthening its I.T. and technology staffing capabilities.

Her dedication to leadership, entrepreneurship, and commitment to excellence has left a legacy within Staffing Solutions, inspiring the current members and staff to carry forward her values and vision.

Michael is a dedicated member and former Corporate Counsel. A lifelong Oregonian, Michael earned his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Willamette University before pursuing his Juris Doctor at the University of Oregon. During his time in law school, he distinguished himself by obtaining a clerkship with the Oregon Supreme Court.

Michael was licensed to practice law in Oregon from 1973 through 2013. Over the course of his career, he held a variety of roles, including sole practitioner, associate, and shareholder in small law firms. He specialized in providing legal counsel to small businesses, offering expertise in business and employment law. His areas of focus included entity selection, purchases and sales, contracts, business transfers, succession planning, related estate planning matters, employee manual and employer policy drafting, and employer client counseling. Additionally, Michael has experience in litigation and appellate work. He was an active member of both local and national bar associations.

Beyond his legal career, Michael has been actively involved with the Gateway Gresham Elks and the Oregon State Elks Association. He was honored as “Elk of the Year” for the 2002-2003 term and has served as a past officer of the organization. In his role as local, District and State Scholarship Chair, he oversaw the awarding of scholarships to local and statewide college-bound students.

Michael played a pivotal role in the formation and success of Staffing Solutions. He continues to provide guidance and advice to the organization as needed.

Michael enjoys woodworking, reading, and is an avid gardener.