CEO & Founder Ryan Owens has over 15 years of recruiting experience, with a heavy focus within Federal Contracting. 

Ryan’s career path is an interesting one.  After graduating from James Madison University with a double degree in Accounting and Finance (and minors in Economics and Math), Ryan spent his first few years in public accounting, and commercial retail real estate.  While he enjoyed his time giving tax advice and doing debt/treasury analysis, Ryan felt that his interpersonal skills were not being utilized to their full potential.  He began his recruiting journey in 2005, recruiting for finance and accounting professionals around the DC Metro Area.  LinkedIn was nowhere near the tool that it is today, and recruiting success in the early 2000’s was only possible through a high volume of cold calling, strategic sourcing, and aggressive networking.  While maintaining a high-volume cold calling routine was initially intimidating, Ryan discovered that being pushed outside of his comfort zone had a positive, rippling effect throughout his professional and personal life.

Over the years, Ryan worked for a few different search firms and was exposed to a variety of selling and recruiting techniques.  Having seen what works and what doesn’t, Ryan has been able to develop a refined approach to both client business development and recruiting.  In 2024, he founded Federal Connections – a boutique search firm - supporting companies throughout the USA with experienced hire recruiting needs.

Ryan credits his recruiting success to his resiliency, and ability to develop meaningful relationships.  In his opinion, it’s not just who you know – it’s how well you know, who you know.  A large portion of his professional relationships have evolved into friendships as well, and, out of the 28 written recommendations on his LinkedIn profile, 20 were unsolicited.