Jaime Devlin, owner of A2Z Personnel with offices in Hamilton and Stevensville, has been named Businessperson of the Year by the Bitterroot Valley Chamber of Commerce.
Devlin grew up in Lolo and is a graduate of Sentinel High School. She started doing personnel work in May of 2000. She took a break for five years to work in the construction industry. She moved to Stevensville in 2012 while she was general manager of A2Z in Missoula, Helena and Hamilton. In 2015, she bought A2Z Personnel from her mother.
Devlin said that, after her kids, her passion is “developing others.” She says she’s in the business of “building relationships, both at work and after work.” She said A2Z “covers all my needs. It helps me grow people. I love community involvement. Having A2Z allows me to have my hands in a bunch of different pots.”
Devlin says her personal and business philosophy “are one and the same – developing relationships. I go at life with the perspective of how many lives I can touch and change for the better.”
Along with A2Z Personnel, she owns A2Z Payroll Services and is a partner in William and Williams, a commercial property company.
Devlin says that since 2015, A2Z Personnel has grown about six times over. In 2020, business growth was 30% over the previous year and so far this year it’s up 48% over last year. She said they are recruiting workers from all states and Puerto Rico to help fill the current worker shortage. “We’ve had to be creative to expand our pool of applicants,” she said.
A2Z Personnel represents about 400 employers and to date this year they’ve put 300 people to work and project about 800 placements by year’s end.
“All that money stays in our local economy,” says Devlin. “These people that work for us spend their money here. Our businesses are all local. We don’t have any contracts out of our county.”
The core values of A2Z Personnel are integrity, ethics, humor and fun, creativity, and health. The company word of the year is “level up” – “we always strive to be the best versions of ourselves,” said Devlin. She said it’s mandatory that her staff works on personal growth and development along with professional growth.
Devlin is leading her staff by example. She is in her ninth year on the board of the Stevensville Playhouse, serving five years as vice president. She’s active in the Chamber of Commerce, currently on the board and a past president. She’s a board member of Project 59870 and serves on the Western Heritage Days and Creamery Picnic committees and is a Stevensville Civic Club member. She’s also a member of the American Staffing Association and serves on the Stevensville Town Council.
“When you work on yourself and grow, you’re able to touch more lives,” said Devlin.
Devlin will be recognized along with other honorees at the Chamber of Commerce awards banquet on May 22 in Hamilton.