Deanna O’Connell

President & Founder

After meeting her, most people wouldn’t guess that Deanna O’Connell spent 4 years proudly serving her country in the United States Marine Corps. But it’s true, Ooh Rah! After being honorably discharged in 1997, she made her way back to her hometown of Mentor, Ohio where she landed a job at the Sherwin Williams Corporate Headquarters learning all there is to know about the application of paint & coatings. She held a technical support role in customer service supporting the likes of big box stores like Home Depot, Lowes and Menards.

In 2002, she received a call from a large recruiting firm in Chicago was looking to start a recruiting practice in paint and coatings so Deanna packed up and moved to the windy city to embark on a new career. After only a few weeks recruiting in paint and coatings, a colleague needed assistance filling a few jobs in the food industry and in just a year, Deanna built up a remarkable clientele with some of the top food manufacturers in the country.

In April of 2008, she married her husband Brian on a beach in Mexico and just a few months later, she took the second big plunge and founded Red Kite Recruiting as a “kitchen table” recruiter. Working solo at home didn’t last very long as she couldn’t keep up with the needs of her clients and soon hired her first employee. With the hire of her 2nd full time recruiter, the team moved into their first official office space in Chicago.

In 2016, Deanna moved the ever-growing company into a larger space on the north side of Chicago in the bustling neighborhood of Wrigleyville just in time for the baseball post-season. The office is located down the street from a little baseball field where a little team won a big World Series that year! Go, Cubs, Go!!

In her free time you will likely find Deanna with her family as they take another RV journey, exploring a fun new location that usually includes water and mountains (preferably both)! She enjoys biking, hiking, riding her one-wheel and adventuring with her husband and 2 boys, Kayden (11) and Kyler (8) and dog, Leo.

What she loves about recruiting: “After 19 years, this business still excites me like it did on Day 1. I love helping my clients solve both long and short-term problems by assisting them in building strong leadership teams. Strong Leadership enables a solid foundation and at the end of the day, I’m helping to lay that foundation brick by brick. It’s truly a privilege to serve my clients in that capacity. Not only do we help build teams but we are helping to build the culture with each company we serve. Not only is that pretty amazing but we have a heck of a lot of fun doing it!”

Favorite Book: Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Favorite Quote: “You don’t always get what you wish for. You get what you work for.”