Karen Thrasher has built her 19-year career at Southwest Airlines from the ground up. Starting as a customer service agent, she rose through ground and flight operations before landing as senior manager of talent acquisition, leading the corporate recruiting team and contingent workforce program that comprises 15,000 workers and $65 million in annual spend.

Since 2010, Thrasher and her team have developed and deployed a total talent organization and in-house MSP that offers internal customers a one-stop source for direct hire, contract and freelance workers. The integrated model enables managers to creatively combine resources and leverage Southwest’s stand-out employer brand and fun-loving culture to find the right talent mix for their team.

Her focus on self-sourcing has produced annual savings of $5 million and reduced time-to-fill by 50%. The program’s streamlined hiring process and consolidated vendor pool have enhanced the candidate experience and delivered breakthrough improvements in turnaround time, quality of hire and temp-to-hire conversions as well.

Thrasher is currently spearheading an enterprise-wide approach to services procurement, including the tracking of all contingent labor – such as SOW engagements, project-based workers and consultants – in a single VMS. She’s also working to build a private contingent talent community that nurtures positive relationships with silver medal candidates, referrals and alumni.