— President / CEO

“I have a passion for the creative industries. I love working with designers, builders, and developers—people with vision who welcome challenge and delight in finding solutions to problems. Engineers, architects, interior designers, project, program, property and operations directors—I draw my own energy from their creativity and imagination. Being part of the process that produces change and progress informs and motivates my approach to business.”

Donna Gaines is the Founder of Gaines International. She began her second career as a search specialist 30 years ago after 10 years working as a professional model. Recruited to join a Chicago-based search firm, Donna knew immediately that the search industry was where she wanted to invest her talents. During that time, she reorganized and revitalized the firm's Houston office and established a booming general search practice in Atlanta. With that success and experience as a foundation, she moved on to launch her own company - Gaines & Associates International.

In 1984, Donna relocated the Gaines Headquarters to Chicago following a decade that included the Gulf War, an economic downturn and overbuilding that slowed the design and construction industries. The impact was felt at Gaines and Donna used it as an opportunity to reengineer the company to meet prevailing demands. She chose to move her business to Chicago to be near the architectural action. After arriving in Chicago, Donna completed an intensive entrepreneur program at the University of Illinois School of Business and established Gaines as the trusted name in the industry.

Gaines has been tremendously successful in the markets her firm serves, with consultants who are experts in the fields in which they concentrate. Over the years, Gaines has moved into ancillary areas where there are even more opportunities for candidates - for example restaurant design and construction, and advertising companies that represent engineering, building and architectural firms.

Donna Gaines frequently writes and gives presentations that focus on strategic hiring and management practices within the executive search and design fields. She sits on the advisory boards for the Professional Services Management Journal and Ai, a planning and design firm with locations in Washington DC, Richmond, VA and San Francisco. She is a member of AIA, IIDA and Women in Planning and Development.

Gaines International completes more than a fifty middle and top-level executive/managerial assignments every year. The firm works exclusively within the design and building industries: architecture, interiors, engineering, facilities, and construction. Today Gaines International operates out of offices in Chicago and London. The London office focuses exclusively on executing international searches in the European, MEA and UAE markets.