Todd Cowles is the Managing Director for the Seattle office of Sheer Velocity. Before joining Sheer Velocity as a retained executive search consultant, Todd brings years of experience in sales leadership, recruiting and independent partner channel development to our organization. Beyond his “day jobs” across the years, he also has a unique background in non-profit volunteer, event and board work. The bulk of Todd’s career has been spent building businesses within the building automation and energy management industries, both in the United States and abroad. From Fortune 100 companies including Siemens and Honeywell to a couple of start-ups, Todd will tell you he has been very fortunate to have had experience ranging from formal training and very structured business practices to dealing with the blank slate of very raw businesses coming out of the ground. Recruiting key employees for his organization and their channel partners has been a key driver to profitable growth across the years. Todd is a strong believer in matching individuals to companies and roles based on motivation, culture and potential to succeed. There can certainly be technical skills and specific experience as minimums, but the match needs to be made on the things that cannot be taught. Todd has felt both the pain and the satisfaction of a hire that misses the mark versus one that perfectly matches the person to the opportunity. He understands how costly the misses can be and how everyone wins when things are done right. Todd has a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Washington. He lives in the greater Seattle area with his two sons. Any spare time is spent outdoors, biking, hiking, skiing and kayaking. Volunteering and community service is an energizing part of Todd’s life as he works with several local charities, plus he is the director of his own small non-profit to support a large mountain biking event each January in Seattle.