Ed Pederson

You can say Ed Pederson is a fast learner. After all, in just two years he went from a new entrant in the staffing industry to VP of KellyOCG’s Global Product Immersion Operations team.

Before joining KellyOCG, Pederson spent 17 years working with John Deere. His entry point into the staffing industry came in 2016 when his family relocated to Washington D.C.

While he searched for a new job, he reached out to a Kelly Services contact he had from his days at John Deere and was quickly invited to work at KellyOCG, heading up the company’s statement-of-work solution. In just two years, Pederson grew his responsibilities from a team of three with one product area to having more than 250 people report to him across the globe in different product areas.

Pederson says being new to the industry has given him a unique perspective.

While at first he found it difficult to communicate face-to-face with clients, he’s now known as a forward-thinking leader who communicates insightfully with internal and external clients, and who builds, trains and mentors top-performing teams.

Volunteering is also important to Pederson — he and his wife adopted a child from Ghana and spend their time supporting orphanages in countries such as Guatemala and Ghana.