Robert Half has appointed insider Ryan Skubis as its senior district president of business operations modernization.

Menlo Park, California-based Robert Half is a recruiting firm with more than $5 billion in annual revenue. It mainly focuses on helping companies hire knowledge workers and executives. In addition, the firm operates a sizable consulting business that assists clients with tasks such as modernizing accounting procedures.

Robert Half didn’t have a senior district president of business operations modernization until now. According to the firm, the creation of the role is part of an effort to optimize its internal processes. Skubis, who joined Robert Half in 1999, took up the post this month following a nearly 9-year stint as a senior district director. He earlier held several other leadership roles.

Boardroom Insight caught up with Skubis to find out what a senior district president at a large professional services firm does exactly. He explained that the role is “focused on strengthening the company’s operational foundation and rethinking how teams work internally. A key component of the initiative is leveraging existing and new technologies – including proprietary AI-enabled tools – to improve speed, efficiency, and decision-making while enhancing the experience for clients, candidates, and employees.”

Robert Half is no stranger to AI. The firm generates over a third of its revenue from an IT consulting unit called Protiviti that helps clients with, among other tasks, AI application development. It can also lend a hand with various related tasks. For example, a bank could hire Protiviti to ensure that the financial data processed by its AI software doesn’t have any quality issues.

As far as Robert Half’s internal modernization push is concerned, Skubis said that the goal is “to enable its teams to spend more time on higher-value, human-driven work and less time on manual or administrative tasks.” He added that “this modernization effort is designed to create a sustainable competitive advantage by allowing Robert Half to respond more quickly to client and candidate needs, scale innovation more effectively, and continue delivering differentiated talent solutions as the world of work evolves.”

Photo courtesy of Robert Half