Detroit  – The historic Penobscot Building in downtown Detroit is going green the week of October 1 to celebrate Strategic Staffing Solutions’ 23^rd anniversary.

For the entire week the lights on the top of this iconic building will burn green, S³’s corporate color. S³’s headquarters has been in the Penobscot Building since 1995. The building also houses the company’s Detroit branch and its Detroit Development Center (DDC). There’s also a banner outside the Penobscot Building that says “S³ vested and invested in Detroit for more than 20 years.”

So why is S³’s corporate color green? It harkens back to the seats of the old Tiger Stadium. Pasky, a huge Tigers fan, watched the games from those seats as a child and the Tigers still played at the old stadium at when S³ was founded in 1990. Pasky has one of those seats in her office.

“We are proud to have the Penobscot ‘go green’ to help us celebrate our 23^rd anniversary,” said Cindy Pasky, president and CEO. “Green is S³’s color for many reasons. Green reminds us to always keep our ideas fresh. It reminds us of the earth and to keep grounded in the reality of what our customers need. It means success, which we achieve when we work together across all of our branches. And for S³ers, green also means “Go!” Go for your dreams, and that we all go to work to be our consultants’ and customers’ best partner.”

S³ has grown dramatically since its founding in 1990. It is financially strong with more than $200 million in sales annually, an additional $50 million in managed services and more than 20 years of consistent growth and profitability. Today it has 27 branch locations, 22 in the US and five in Europe, and more than 2,000 team members globally.

It was named among the Top 25 woman-owned businesses in the nation by Women’s Enterprise USA Magazine and is ranked 16th among the largest staffing firms in the US by Staffing Industry Report. It is ranked as the sixth largest diversity staffing firm in the US by Staffing Industry Analysts and is a strong believer in supporting other diversity businesses. In the last three years alone S³ has spent $57.7 million with diversity suppliers.

S³ also believe in giving back to the community. Last year it donated more than $1 million and countless volunteer hours to charities globally. Since 2000 it has contributed more than $6 million to charities around the world.

About Strategic Staffing Solutions

Strategic Staffing Solutions (S³) is an international, woman-owned, $200-million-plus IT and business services company based in Detroit. S³ is ranked the sixth largest diversity staffing firm in the US by Staffing Industry Analysts and 16th among the largest staffing firms in the US by Staffing Industry Report. It is also one of five companies nationally that is a certified Charter Partner with Staffing Industry Analysts. S³ provides IT consulting, customized project solutions, vendor management programs and an executive search service to financial institutions, energy companies, telecommunications, government agencies and retail and health care industries worldwide. It has approximately 2,000 consultants and 27 offices, 22 in the U.S. and five in Europe.

DETROIT – Strategic Staffing Solutions (S³), a global IT and business services company, has opened an office in Riga, Latvia, to service its customers in the region and expand its growth in Europe.

The new office is located at Torna iela 4, Riga, LV-1050. Mantas Paskevicius, country manager in Lithuania, and Jeff Nelson, S3 vice president located in Richmond, VA, will oversee the operation.

S³ has staffed the office with local talent and support from Lithuania.

“Our customers have asked us to expand our capabilities in Eastern Europe and Latvia is a perfect place for S³ to grow in that part of the world,” said Denise Kurowski, executive vice president and lead executive on the Eastern Europe project. “It gives us an important base to enhance our services and grow our business with current and potential customers in the region.”

Latvia has emerged as a regional financial and commercial center in the Baltic Sea region and became part of the European Union in 2004, which are key elements in its future expansion.
It growth in the financial and commercial services sectors dovetails with the industries S³ serves.

”We believe in getting in on the ground floor of new opportunities and Latvia is absolutely one of those opportunities,” Kurowski said. “It is well-positioned to achieve economic stabilization and regain robust levels of economic growth over the next few years. S³ is committed to being part of that progress. Our aim is to provide services and solutions to our current and potential customers in the region so they can continue to develop and produce high profitability goods and services, and create new, well-paying jobs.”

In addition, S³ will seek philanthropic ways to help and enhance the Riga community. Strategic Staffing Solutions values the communities it serves and requires all branch locations to participate in local community activities.

About Strategic Staffing Solutions

Strategic Staffing Solutions (S³) is an international, woman-owned, $200-million-plus IT services company based in Detroit. It provides IT consulting, customized project solutions, vendor management programs and an executive search service to financial institutions, energy companies, telecommunications, government agencies and retail and health care entities worldwide. It has approximately 2,000 consultants and is one of the Top 10 diversity companies in the industry. S³ has 26 offices, 22 in the U.S. and four in Europe.

BCBSM, Compuware, DTE Energy, Marketing Associates, Quicken Loans, Strategic Staffing Solutions to compete in week-long Olympic-style events July 22-26 in Downtown Detroit

DETROIT – The game is on and the competition is fierce as the six Live Downtown companies face off in the second annual Live Downtown Games July 22-26.

Last year, Detroit’s finest athletes from five major area employers showcased their talent and skills in the inaugural Live Downtown Games. The Games resulted in an intense, week-long competition between Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Compuware, DTE Energy, Quicken Loans and Strategic Staffing Solutions. Compuware took home top honors. This year, Marketing Associates joined the Live Downtown program and the Games.

The 2013 Live Downtown Games will kick off at 11 a.m. on Monday, July 22, with opening ceremonies in the heart of Downtown Detroit – Campus Martius Park – marking the two-year anniversary of the Live Downtown incentive program.

“The collaboration among these companies, with the recent addition of Marketing Associates, continues to grow and serves as a shining example of what can be accomplished with cooperation and a sense of larger purpose,” said Dave Blaszkiewicz, president and CEO of the Downtown Detroit Partnership. “The 2012 games were a huge success, connecting people all around the city and contributing to the positive growth, momentum and sense of community within Detroit.”

Over the course of five days during lunch and following work hours, employees from each Live Downtown company will compete in a series of Olympic-style activities in various Downtown Detroit locations. The companies will also combine efforts to support educational achievement in the city of Detroit.

The competition will be based on a point system with the winner crowned at the closing ceremonies on Friday, July 26. The complete schedule of activities is listed below. Highlights include: the executive bungee run immediately following opening ceremonies, which begins the week of competition; field day at DTE Energy’s campus; a Detroit-themed scavenger hunt and a community philanthropic event benefitting the Detroit Public Schools. Employees will also have an opportunity to interact on Thursday, July 25 at a mixer event at Sound Board, sponsored by MCCH.

A special thank you to tee-shirt sponsor Opportunity Detroit, a campaign that promotes downtown Detroit as a great place to live, work and play, and all of our event hosts DTE Energy, Compuware, MotorCity Casino Hotel and Drive Table Tennis Social Club, and in-kind sponsors The Robot Garage and Just Topped.

Daily updates will be posted at www.downtowndetroit.org/summergames/. The official hashtag of the Live Downtown Games is #DETgames.

In 2012, the Live Downtown Games were created to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the Live Downtown program, which is coordinated by the Downtown Detroit Partnership and administered by Midtown Detroit Inc. The five-year, more than $4 million Live Downtown Incentive Program was created to incentivize people working in Downtown Detroit to consider investing in a home in the city in which they work and play. The program focuses on building density in Downtown and designated nearby neighborhoods: Corktown, Lafayette Park, Eastern Market, Woodbridge and the Midtown areas of Brush Park, Cass Park, Art Center, and Lower Cass. For more information on the Live Downtown program, visit http://www.detroitlivedowntown.org/

DETROIT – Transitioning from the military to civilian life can be a challenge. After spending four years or more in the service of our country, those leaving the military have to decide what roads to take to shape the rest of their lives.

They have strong backgrounds, contacts and experience that can be transferred to the business community. According to militaryleaders.com, more than 70% of Fortune 1000 executives are former military members.

With that in mind Strategic Staffing Solutions (S³) developed and launched its first pilot military program, the S³ Combat Recruiting Support Team. Under the program, four military veterans joined S³as sourcers in the San Antonio office. Sourcers reach out to qualified individuals who fit the job descriptions required by S³’s customers and then turn those names over to the recruiters.

“We want to give our customers the best consultants possible and that means fishing in the right ponds to find them. The military is certainly one of those ponds. The military requires its people to think fast, learn quickly, adapt easily, build solid relationships and have strong ethics and that fits S³ to a T,” said Cynthia J. Pasky, president and CEO. “We are so pleased to have this new team onboard and are confident they will be able to bring many former military people onboard as consultants.”

The individuals S³ hired have strong credentials, which re-enforces the value veterans bring to the workforce and how those skills can transfer to the private sector. One is a Two are retired Air Force senior noncommissioned offers and former Air Force recruiters (one with an MBA from Columbia Southern). One was an intelligence analyst in the Army. One and led 300-plus combat intelligence missions in Iraq and Kuwait without loss of life or equipment, and has a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Texas A&M-San Antonio. Another retired noncommissioned officer was a field medic in the Navy attached the US Marine Corps and is now completing his military career as a senior instructor at the Tri-Service Radiography School, Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio.

“Military people know the value of teamwork, and of being resourceful,” Pasky said.

The new team works out of S3’s Southwest Branch in San Antonio, but will also provide sourcing support for the company’s branches across the company.

“The focus for our program is to get talented people from the military and help them become recruiters,” said Ken Huxley, Southwest branch manager and a retired Air Force colonel, “We will grow from within. We offered them the opportunity to come in and learn the staffing industry starting from ground up. The team is in a sourcing role so they can learn the technology and get the lay of land. Then, as they get experience with customers across country, they will transition from sourcer to junior recruiter and then senior recruiter.”

About Strategic Staffing Solutions

Strategic Staffing Solutions (S³) is an international, woman-owned, $200-million-plus IT services company based in Detroit. It provides IT consulting, customized project solutions, vendor management programs and an executive search service to financial institutions, energy companies, telecommunications, government agencies and retail and health care entities worldwide. It has approximately 2,000 consultants and is one of the Top 10 diversity companies in the industry.

S³ has 24 branches worldwide including Detroit, Atlanta, Boston, Team California (Los Angeles and San Francisco), Charlotte, Chicago, Columbia, SC, Columbus, Dallas, Des Moines, Team Florida (Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, Tallahassee and Tampa), Houston, Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Richmond, San Antonio, San Francisco, St. Louis, Tampa, Team Texas (Dallas, Houston and San Antonio) and two European offices in Vilnius, Lithuania and London, England.

DETROIT – Strategic Staffing Solutions (S³) has been named company chair of the newly formed American-Lithuanian Business Council (ALBC), a non-profit organization created to promote commercial relations between the United States and Lithuania.

The council officially launched on May 17 in Washington, DC at a meeting with Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite. “This Council can significantly contribute to the strengthening of the U.S.-Lithuania commercial and economic relations,” the President said.

S³ is a founding member of the ALBC and its Executive Vice President Denise Kurowski serves as its first chair.

“S³ has had a unique opportunity to be part of developing and realizing the success of the American-Lithuanian Business Council and has taken this responsibility very seriously,” Kurowski said. “Forming the ALBC was the right next step. The ALBC provides Lithuania direct access to the US companies who have invested in Lithuania and provides a forum for these same companies to work with Lithuanian leadership toward mutual success.”

S³’s branch in Lithuania is in Vilnius, the nation’s capital.

Other board members include Chevron serving as vice chair, Western Union serving as treasurer, Exelon Generation as secretary and Fluor, Maersk and Thermo Fisher Scientific serving as general board members. Eric Stewart, a partner at the Washington, DC firm of Williams & Jensen, is serving as the board’s new president. Stewart will make his first trip to Lithuania in this capacity June 4-6.

“The investments being made by American companies like S³ demonstrate the significant economic potential in Lithuania,” said Stewart. “Further commercial exchange will assist to ensure the two countries’ tremendous transatlantic bond will never be broken.”

The ALBC is based in Washington, DC. Its purpose is to enhance and encourage trade and investment between the United States and Lithuania as well as educate the public on the benefits of working with and in these two great countries. To carry out the mission of the ALBC, the organization will sponsor policy conferences, briefing sessions and events featuring academics and business leaders, as well as key U.S. and Lithuanian officials.

The next ALBC event will be held at the U.S. Capitol on July 8 to celebrate Lithuania’s accession to the Presidency of the Council of the European Union on July 1. Guests will include ambassadors from EU countries, Members of Congress, and representatives of the Executive Branch. The ALBC will hold its annual meeting every year concurrent with Lithuanian Independence Day, Feb. 16.

About Strategic Staffing Solutions

Strategic Staffing Solutions (S³) is an international, woman-owned, $200-million-plus IT services company based in Detroit. It provides IT consulting, customized project solutions, vendor management programs and an executive search service to financial institutions, energy companies, telecommunications, government agencies and retail and health care entities worldwide. It has approximately 2,000 consultants and is one of the Top 10 diversity companies in the industry.

S³ has 24 branches worldwide including Detroit, Atlanta, Boston, Team California (Los Angeles and San Francisco), Charlotte, Chicago, Columbia, SC, Columbus, Dallas, Des Moines, Team Florida (Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, Tallahassee and Tampa), Houston, Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Richmond, San Antonio, San Francisco, St. Louis, Tampa, Team Texas (Dallas, Houston and San Antonio) and two European offices in Vilnius, Lithuania and London, England.

DETROIT – A Grand Prix race car can zoom around the 2.3-mile track on Belle Isle in a little over a minute. Last year, the fastest time for the Grand Prix Shakedown 5K Run and Family Fun Walk was just over 16 minutes.

The run is back again this year and will be held May 28 on Belle Isle. Those participating run the complete Grand Prix track plus a little more to make up the 5K race.

All proceeds from the race go to 2-1-1 On The Go!, a Downtown Detroit Partnership program that connects homeless people to the services they need. Contributions from corporate sponsors and run fees have helped the Shakedown raise nearly $450,000 over the past 19 years. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the race.

The Shakedown is presented by Strategic Staffing Solutions (S3), the Downtown Runners and Walkers, the Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix and Penske Corp.

“We too often forget if you are poor, you are essentially an illness, an accident, or a paycheck away from living on the streets,” says Cindy Pasky, founder and CEO of S3. “Foreclosures, job loss, sickness and, yes, incarceration and addiction have moved many from the warmth of a home to the cold streets. At S3 we firmly believe it is part of our job is to help those less fortunate.”

The Grand Prix Shakedown 5K Run and Family Fun Walk is Tuesday, May 28. The walk starts at 5:30. The run starts at 6:15 p.m. You can register at http://www.active.com/running/detroit-mi/grand-prix-shakedown-2013.

About Strategic Staffing Solutions

Strategic Staffing Solutions (S³) is an international, woman-owned, $200-million-plus IT services company based in Detroit. It provides IT consulting, customized project solutions, vendor management programs and an executive search service to financial institutions, energy companies, telecommunications, government agencies and retail and health care entities worldwide. It has approximately 2,000 consultants and is one of the Top 10 diversity companies in the industry.

S³ has 24 branches worldwide including Detroit, Atlanta, Boston, Team California (Los Angeles and San Francisco), Charlotte, Chicago, Columbia, SC, Columbus, Dallas, Des Moines, Team Florida (Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, Tallahassee and Tampa), Houston, Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Richmond, San Antonio, San Francisco, St. Louis, Tampa, Team Texas (Dallas, Houston and San Antonio) and two European offices in Vilnius, Lithuania and London, England.