Sam Cross

A 17-year staffing veteran, Sam Cross says it was the idea of helping people through the most important moves of their lives that originally drew him to the staffing industry. Having worked entirely in sales and building sales teams during that time, Cross is now senior VP – Americas for Airswift, which provides workforce solutions to the global process, infrastructure and energy markets.

He has taken risks with new service lines, encouraging his team to look at clients’ problems through a different lens and solve them creatively. “This mentality has been the catalyst for so much of his area’s growth,” says one colleague. Most recently, Cross has led the company through the current Covid-19 and market impacts, helping to secure the future of Airswift and setting it up to be less singlemarket reliant.

One of Cross’s great personal drivers is to have an impact on the careers and lives of the people he works with. “Seeing people become better professionals is one thing, but seeing them becoming better people is the real reward,” he says. Looking forward, Cross predicts digitalization and lower cost of service will be the future for staffing, and feels trusted strategic relationships will come back stronger after the recent market downturn. “It’s at hard times people value the relationships they have and delivery they can rely on versus commoditization.”