A Thank You to Contemporaries CEO Donna Fitzgerald (From The Staff)

On February 2, 1998 Contemporaries, Inc. quietly celebrated its 24th year anniversary. The Boston-based staffing firm began as the vision of President and CEO Donna Fitzgerald who spent a decade in the industry before launching her own small business. Rather than using a standardized model, Fitzgerald created a staffing boutique based on what she knew worked and what didn’t. 

Contemporaries would be a unique partnership designed to assist clients as well as candidates. The mantra would not be just getting as many bodies out the door as possible, but rather, getting the right person in the right position where both parties would benefit from the new relationship. The matching process would be much more personal and holistic rather than the customary and generic resume based model.

Perhaps the greatest evidence of her keen insight was how Contemporaries became the “go to” agency for many hiring managers in academia, government, non-profits, and small, medium, and large sized businesses throughout Boston. Most times, nine out of 10 temporary workers went on to become permanent employees in the venues they were placed in.

To ensure the agency was not only off to a great start, but consistently delivered the best quality candidates and services, personal and professional sacrifices had to be made. Whether it was working 65 hour weeks, sleepless nights in the early years to ensure payroll was made or working tirelessly to ensure clients were satisfied and candidates had a new beginning to their careers, Fitzgerald did so effectively and literally for decades.

As a CEO, the Boston native has been an exceptional leader. She not only tackled her own job responsibilities, but also jumped in whenever or wherever she was needed, all while instructing staff to make right matches rather than meet weekly or monthly quotas. Through the Great Recession of the late 2000s or the more recent pandemic of 2020 and beyond, Contemporaries has weathered these and other storms, mainly because of Fitzgerald’s guidance and oversight. 

Her objective for the last three decades has been making the kind of staffing matches where everyone was a winner. 

We all recall her traditional words of wisdom, “Always set the person up for success, never place them in positions where they may fail.” 

Some of Fitzgerald’s accomplishments include:

• Helping thousands of local residents throughout the Greater Boston area secure employment opportunities they’d otherwise miss.
• Becoming the first Boston temporary employment firm to offer a $15 minimum hourly wage to all its employees.
• Assisting hundreds of private and public entities meet deadlines and achieve their own business goals.
• Launching a non-profit, Heartank (pronounced heart tank) as a means of giving back to the community and providing financial assistance to new and would-be local entrepreneurs.

The Contemporaries Team would like to thank our CEO for creating a business model which has worked for decades, and for setting a powerful and positive example showing us all what can be accomplished through hard work, perseverance, and the will to make life better for everyone. 

This posting is brought to you by Contemporaries Inc., one of the best temp agencies in Boston MA. Also available for payrolling employees in Boston and Greater Boston