About Us
David C. Vasquez
Chief Executive Officer and Founder
David C. Vasquez has nearly 30 years of experience in business process outsourcing and management consulting, with a specialty in contract negotiations, business planning, business process improvement strategies, directing domestic and global business development activities and forming strategic business alliances, over multiple verticals, in both the Public and Private Sectors.
David is the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of ElevationHR, a certified Minority/Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (M/DBE) and a licensed Professional Employer Organization (PEO), Talent Acquisition, Payroll and Human Resources Outsourcing (HRO) firm, headquartered in Houston Texas, where David spearheads strategic business development activities, and manages proposal preparation, contract negotiations and the client experience. Under David’s leadership, ElevationHR delivers Human Resource-related expertise, payroll support and a higher quality of life for over 60,000 employees and provides peace of mind and M/DBE spend to business owners and institutions, which allows them to focus on their core business matters and achieve goals.
Prior to forming ElevationHR, David was an Officer and Vice President of Institutional Sales for G&A Partners, a licensed PEO and HRO consulting firm headquartered in Houston, Texas. David was the firm’s 10th employee, and for over 20 years, managed its business development and strategic alliances efforts to the firm’s large public and private sector institutions. Throughout his tenure at G&A Partners, David had successful experiences negotiating, implementing, and executing on large public and private sector clients/projects. David was also instrumental in the development and implementation of the firm’s HRO platform as well as their first offshore Payroll Solution.
Prior to joining the PEO and HRO industry, David was recruited to the Construction industry in Houston, Texas, where he directed the daily operations for a 75-person heavy civil construction firm, and later went on to establish and manage a heavy civil construction company of 40 employees, where he created professional business development and marketing strategies to gain the highest exposure with decision makers in client organizations across the State, and utilized a PEO to manage its Human Resources functions and compliance. Prior to moving to Houston, David was a key member of the management team for Salisbury Technologies, LLC in Maryland, where he worked in acquisition of a 200-employee defense electronics manufacturing facility from Northrop-Grumman Corporation, coordinating nationwide business development effort for industries, including telecommunications, aerospace, defense technology, associated distribution and general contract manufacturing.
David earned his bachelor’s degree in Political Science from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas, where he graduated Cum Laude, played soccer on St. Mary’s Men’s Team, and served as the President of Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity. David also studied at the University of London while living in London, England, attended Harvard Business School’s Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility Program and participated on the US-Spain Young Leaders Fellowship Program in Madrid, Spain. Active within the community, David serves on several local and State Boards, and is proudly married with three beautiful daughters, has a passion for sports and enjoys a good Texas BBQ.
Howard L. Lang
Vice President of Operations
A strategic thinker with analytical risk assessment skills, Howard L. Lang has 30 years of experience in operations, project management, and in designing and implementing a variety of risk, health and safety programs for businesses and agencies, with single and multi-site locations. Howard has also worked directly in the Professional Employer Organization (PEO) and Human Resource Outsources (HRO) industries as both a service provider and client, where he draws upon his varied experiences to exceed client and project expectations.
Howard is the Vice President of Operations at ElevationHR, where he is responsible for the firm’s operations, employee management and relations, and oversees an HRO program with a focus on health, safety, and unemployment insurance operations for a State of Texas Agency. Howard previously designed methods and procedures, staffed, and maintained the State of Texas program as a Project Manager for G&A Partners in which compensation solutions and the approach to addressing unemployment claims created efficiency and cost savings.
Prior to joining G&A Partners to service the State of Texas HRO Program, Howard worked directly for the State of Texas as a Risk Manager for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, where he was one of three Agency Risk Managers that serviced 52,000 full-time employees, and designed, implemented, and maintained a program for the agency to provide safety, health, and risk management with the goal of protecting material and human assets, and reducing costs. He also served on the risk management team to consolidate several state agencies into the Health and Human Services enterprise.
Previously, Howard joined the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services as an Agency Risk Director where he designed, implemented, and maintained a program for the agency to ensure the safety and security of people, assets, and processes across the organization to mitigate risks and reduce costs, and prior to starting joining the State of Texas, Howard launched his career in Safety and Risk Management Consulting where he spearheaded and designed safety and risk management programs to meet business-specific needs and compliance with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
Howard earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Safety Engineering and Risk Management from Kennedy University in Bakersfield, California. Howard enjoys the mountains, traveling throughout the Southwest and vacationing in the Mexican Caribbean.
Xavier Hurd
Vice President of RPO Operations and Talent Acquisition
An accomplished and passionate Talent Acquisition leader, Xavier V. Hurd has over 20 years of private, public, and global experience in effectively aligning talent acquisition with human resources and critical business strategies. Xavier’s proven track record of organizational transformation, building high performance organizations, leading talent strategies to drive profitable growth, employee engagement and shareholder value has yielded him as a trusted strategic advisor from C-Suite Executive teams to front-line leaders in the Aviation & Aerospace, Manufacturing, Financial Services, Healthcare, PEO, and Oil & Gas industries.
Xavier is the Director of Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) Operations – Talent Acquisition for ElevationHR, where his ability to manage aggressive time schedules and navigate complex project circumstances enables him to lead client Talent Acquisition strategies to increase their productivity and profitability, reduce time-to-fill, and exceed business goals. Particularly, Xavier enhanced ElevationHR’s efforts to hire 1,600 employees in 37 different roles for a nation-wide Non-Profit’s Reunification Project in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas.
Prior to joining ElevationHR, Xavier led talent acquisition and go-to-market strategies within the Aerospace, Utilities, Oil & Gas, PEO, and IT industries with a particular emphasis on creating Agile Business Concepts and Innovative Stratagems. Xavier specialties include: Center of Excellence, Global Talent Strategy, Talent Technology solution Architecture and Effectiveness, Social Media Talent Attraction, Competitive Intelligence, Diversity Target/Measurement and Online Research Training. Notable projects include: the hiring of senior level executives for a global supplier to the aerospace and industrial gas turbine markets to fill domestic and international professional positions across manufacturing business units within the US, Mexico, and the United Kingdom; spearheaded talent acquisition initiatives across 52+ operational branches throughout multiple states for a Houston-based electric company; and led the Recruiting Strategy in North and South America for Sadara Chemical Company, a $20B world-scale integrated chemicals complex in Jubail, Saudi Arabia – the largest petrochemical facility ever built in a single phase.
Xavier received a Bachelor of Science degree in Management from the University of Phoenix in Houston, Texas, played football and ran track for the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, and holds professional affiliations and certifications with Program Council for ATAP, AIRS Certified Internet Recruiter and AIRS Advanced Certified Internet Recruiter. An avid adventurer, Xavier has 3 children and enjoys traveling around the world.
Monica Vasquez
Director of Client Relations
Monica Vasquez is a highly skilled professional with the ability to utilize critical thinking and complex problem-solving skills to drive optimal operational solutions in a fast paced, results-oriented environment. She provides valuable expertise among various units within an organization, and possesses superior communication, analytical and project management skills to increase efficiency, decrease inaccuracies and run smooth operations.
Monica currently serves as the Director of Client Relations for ElevationHR, where she collaborates with internal stakeholders and ensures optimal processes to achieve clients’ business objectives and goals. Specifically, Monica leverages her interpersonal skills and draws upon her prior experiences to create a foundation of trust to build strong and lasting relationships.
Most recently, Monica was an Executive in Government Relations at the City of Houston’s Houston Public Works Department, where she worked alongside the Mayoral Administration, City Council, Department Directors, and staff to provide services to the citizens of Houston. A strong advocate for transparency in government, she was instrumental in removing barriers to advance service offerings by leading numerous process improvements projects among various business units and conducted a groundbreaking customer service training initiative for over 4,000 employees and managers. She also streamlined the agenda process for Houston Public Works’ purchases and ordinances, with an annual budget of $2.1 Billion, and worked alongside the Executive-levels of the Office of Business Opportunity to ensure the City of Houston’s $4 Billion procurement budget followed the City’s Diversity Program by increased effectiveness and efficiency of systems, processes, and policies.
Prior to joining the City of Houston, Monica lived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and worked with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, where she led several process improvement initiatives and provided educational consulting, volunteer management to nearly 1,000 people from almost 100 countries, administrative support, and instructional services to benefit over 17,000 refugee children. Before moving to Southeast Asia, Monica managed multi-million dollar operations for a heavy civil construction firm in Houston, Texas, where she developed and managed key business operations in the areas of business and proposal development, procurement, project management, contract compliance, accounting, finance, and human resources.
Monica received a bachelor’s degree in Political Science at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, and holds a Lean Six Sigma Certification. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Houston Club, which was established in 1894 and is one of the oldest private clubs in the southwestern United States. Monica is proudly married and enjoys watching their daughter grow into a happy little girl, traveling and emerging herself into new cultures, and hiking the red rock mountain range in Sedona, Arizona.
Roberto Quesada
Director of HR and Payroll
Latin America Operations
A dynamic and accomplished human resources and payroll professional with 20 years of experience in decision-making roles for both local and multinational companies, Roberto is an engaging and persuasive communicator. He has successfully consolidated human resources and payroll teams in Costa Rica, Trinidad and Tobago, Colombia, Guyana, and Mexico. Roberto has a solid reputation for executing corporate strategies and initiatives, organizational and employee development, coaching, problem-solving, conflict resolution, ethics, analytical thinking, decision-making, and labor law compliance.
Roberto is the Director of HR and Payroll for ElevationHR’s Latin American (LATAM) market, where he implements ElevationHR corporate efforts and leads LATAM operations with the highest level of professionalism and compliance for long-term business relationships. This makes ElevationHR a strategic partner for its clients. Before joining ElevationHR, Roberto was a successful HR and Payroll Senior Manager in the LATAM market. He added value to customers with low-cost operations to ensure compliance and accuracy in human resources and payroll processing services in large Business Process Outsourcing corporations in Costa Rica and other LATAM countries. Roberto played key roles and proactively participated in critical organizational processes such as growth, retention, downsizing, project implementation, employee lifecycle, employee development, recruiting, hiring, onboarding, performance management, compensation (including payroll and benefits), labor relations, and labor law compliance.
Based in Costa Rica, Roberto is fluent in English and Spanish and holds a bachelor’s degree in business management and human resources. He is also certified as a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt. Roberto loves nature, enjoys helping others, and spending time with his wife and three children.