Nad Elias has been in the search recruitment industry for 20+ years. Recognized as one of the top 50 recruiters in Texas, he is known for working with and advising companies on their talent acquisition and retention strategies, consistently delivering on-target results, and building high-performing teams. Nad founded recruitAbility with the purpose-driven mission to make the lives of everyone they connect with better.

Nad’s career has spanned all aspects of employer and people development. He’s trained, lead, and developed recruiting organizations serving various industries while always focusing on the value-added services they provide when it’s done right. His experience includes running executive searches and managing nationwide projects with companies ranging in size from start-ups to the Fortune 500. He began his career out of college in the recruiting industry, and it’s all he’s ever known.

Austin is home to Nad and his family. A University of Texas graduate, he is the incoming President of the Central US Entrepreneurs Organization (EO). He has been a finalist for Austin’s best CEO’s by the Austin Business Journal for the last 2 years and has lead recruitAbility to one of Austin’s best places to work the last 4 out of 5 years. When he’s not following the active lifestyles of his two kids, Nad plays and coaches basketball and enjoys a round of golf whenever he can fit it in! Read his employee spotlight Q&A.

Derek Wright is a serial entrepreneur who as a kid growing up in Ponca City, OK had paper routes, a lawn service and several other small businesses.  After graduating from Spring Hill College with a Degree in Mathematics, he worked as a software programmer in the telecom industry and eventually moved into sales and marketing leadership roles in various technology and other investment companies.

Most recently in 2024 he started actively advising and consulting with one of his investment companies, recruitAbility, and in January of 2025 he got further involved taking on the role of Chief Strategy Officer.  Derek and Nad Elias founded recruitAbility in 2016 to reimagine the recruiting industry and the firm has grown into a Nationally known player headquartered in Austin while having staff and assisting companies nationwide.

In 2004, prior to his day to day involvement with recruitAbility, he bought his first operating company, New Horizons Computer Learning Center of Austin and grew it to the largest franchise group within the global New Horizons network.  For over a decade Derek’s organization would be a Top 5 largest independent training company in North American and won numerous industry awards from Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA, EC-Council and including the New Horizons Global Franchise of the Year in 2008 out of over 150 global locations.  His New Horizons franchise group were innovation leaders within the franchise system and pioneered the online modality and delivery system known as Global OLL.  He successfully sold the training business in 2020 which was rebranded as United Training.  In 2022 he re-engaged with the former buyers and became a partner once again and the group later sold to Morgan Stanley Capital Partners.  Morgan Stanley soon thereafter purchased the vast majority of the New Horizons franchisor business and merged the United Training business and rebranded the combined entity back to New Horizons.

He served on the Board of Directors for the Entrepreneurs Organization of Austin and was its President in 2008-2009.  He also served on the Board of Directors for several years at Austin Pets Alive! which is the national leader in no-kill animal rescue in the United States.  In 2022 he joined the Board of Trustees at Spring Hill College, his alma mater located in Mobile, AL, and currently still serves on its Board.

In 2010 he partnered with Kevin Evans to re-acquire ARG Publishing and assisted in growing the footprint to over a dozen magazines and digital media outlets in 8 markets and 5 states.  The partners rebranded the operation to WEB Media Group and diversified its assets in the lifestyle space with the addition of Napa Valley Life Magazine.  He is currently the CEO of WEB Media Group.  As mentioned above, in 2016 he partnered with Nad, a tenured and successful entrepreneur in the professional staffing and permanent placement space, and together they founded recruitAbility.  In 2018, he partnered with Terry Oehring, a long time entrepreneur in the technology and cybersecurity space, and invested in his firm Solis Security.  He took an active role as President of Solis working on all aspects of the business alongside Oehring.  They grew their partnership in Solis Security by 5X and later sold its cyber business practice to private equity backed CFC Underwriting based in London, UK, one of the premier and largest global cybersecurity insurers.  The Solis brand tucked into CFC group and was expanded further into a global brand for its IT MSSP business.  As part of the CFC transaction Solis Security (Wright and Oehring) agreed to divest its IT business and merged its IT Managed Service Provider practice with Austin based MyITPros, led by Bill McCharren.  In 2021 the group sold the IT MSP business to Chicago based PE firm Frontenac.  This group of acquisitions has been rebranded to Integris and is currently one of the largest IT MSPs in the United States.  Most recently he invested in Golden Home Management with Evan Ransome.  Ransome founded the company in 2020 with his brother Matt Vogt to assist homeowners with the management and maintenance of their homes in a safe way.  The company was relocated to Austin, TX and is growing its presence with intentions on becoming a National brand.

In addition to his entrepreneurial ventures, he is an active real estate investor.  His Property Management company 5 Point Property Management oversees his real estate holdings which at its peak consisted of over a dozen properties across 5 states and totaled over 400,000 sq ft of rentable space.

He currently resides in Austin, TX with his wife Brandi who he has been married to since 1995.  Their son Chas is an Engineer working for Frito Lay in Dallas, TX and their daughter Brynne played volleyball at West Texas A&M University and is finishing her computer science major.  He enjoys golfing, skiing, traveling the world, learning and growing as an entrepreneur himself and mentoring fellow entrepreneurs, investing in real estate and spending time with family.  He and Brandi are wine enthusiasts and enjoy spending time in Colorado.

 

Richard Fusco brings 15+ years of experience as a management consultant and product management director in the software industry. He thrives on working with clients to break down their seemingly intractable problems to deliver practical solutions.

Richard’s experience includes leading a team that launched a data platform for Fortune 50 financial services companies and breaking new ground in mobile technology for live sporting events. He realized his greatest successes by being a client champion from the sales process through to developing successful client relationships. He has a deep understanding of the pain points that technology organizations face today in all types of companies including oil & gas, health care, financial services, and live events. He is excited to bring his “in the trenches” experience to lead Marketing and Operations for recruitAbility to help our clients build the teams they need to succeed.

After a wonderful decade in New York City, Richard now lives with his wife and two very energetic daughters in Austin. Besides playing with the kiddos, he loves live music, surfing, skiing, being outdoors, and obviously a good nap on the beach once in a while. He is also an avid volunteer building schools and infrastructure for international communities. Read his employee spotlight Q&A.