Respected human resources executive, Bill Warren, will retire in December of 2016 after capping off a rich career in the industry. Warren is most notably recognized as the, “Founder of Online Recruitment,” having created the first online job board.

 Indianapolis–based nonprofit, DirectEmployers Association today announced that the company’s executive director, Bill Warren, has submitted his intent to retire from his role, and transition leadership to his successor once appointed by Board of Directors. Warren’s decision to retire will bring to a close a remarkable career in the human resources field, with the past 15 years of service spent at the Association.

“I want to express heartfelt thanks to Bill Warren, the founder of online recruiting and a true pioneer in the recruitment and compliance space,” commented Paul White, President of DirectEmployers Board of Directors. “Bill has accomplished so much during his career from launching the first employment website with Online Career Center–which later became Monster.com–to launching the Internet’s first employment search engine with DirectEmployers. Bill is truly a visionary and industry leader whose presence will be missed.”

“I want to emphasize that I will forever be grateful to this organization for having granted me one of the greatest opportunities of my life, to be a part of the accomplishments and the great times we have had over the years,” stated Bill Warren, DirectEmployers Executive Director. “It has truly been a privilege leading DirectEmployers! I want to emphasize that this transition will not affect our day-to-day operations and I am confident that my successor, and the strong leadership team we have in place, will carry my legacy forward.”

The Board of Directors will be responsible for choosing Warren’s successor and has already begun the search. .

During his time as Executive Director–from the time the Association opened its doors in October 2001 to present–Warren’s accomplishments include:

  • Honored with several prestigious awards including the Pericles Pro Meritus Award from the Employment Management Association in 1997 in recognition of being the founder of online recruiting, as well as the President’s award from the National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA) in 2012
  • Launched successful, lasting partnerships with NASWA and the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE)
  • Developed the National Labor Exchange (NLx) in partnership with NASWA to facilitate working relationships between federal contractors and state workforce agencies, as well improve overall labor market efficiency
  • Partnered with Cleveland-based Employ Media–the registrar of the .JOBS top-level domain–to create the infrastructure and further develop solutions and services for online recruitment marketing

Warren began his career as a respected corporate Human Resources Group Vice President at Rockwell International. Upon retiring from Rockwell International, Warren pioneered the first online recruitment site, Online Career Center (OCC). OCC later became the technology that powered Monster.com. Warren was later named Monster.com’s first President.

Warren is a graduate of Indiana University and a US Army veteran.


About DirectEmployers Association
DirectEmployers Association is a nonprofit member-owned and managed association formed in 2001 by 14 leading Fortune 500 companies searching for a way to reduce recruiting costs, while regaining ownership of their recruitment brand. Through collaboration with these individuals, DirectEmployers developed proprietary technology that has since led to the creation of our flagship product—a federal contractor compliance solution that assists with the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Program’s (OFCCP) VEVRAA mandatory listing requirements and Section 503 regulations. Now with over 800 employers varying in industry and size, we’ve expanded our Member benefits to include a Partner Relationship Manager (PRM), networking and educational opportunities and fully customizable Recruitment Marketing Solutions.

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