Michelle Sims

CEO, YUPRO Placement

Michelle Sims joined in 2020 as CEO of YUPRO Placement, a proud subsidiary of Year Up United, where she champions a powerful social mission: unlocking career opportunities for individuals emerging from non-traditional training paths. YUPRO Placement partners with corporate America to dismantle outdated hiring barriers, embed skills-first practices, and cultivate inclusive talent pipelines. Michelle’s visionary approach ensures that communities benefit from sustainable job growth and that organizations gain access to skilled professionals ready to drive innovation and success.

Under Michelle’s leadership, YUPRO Placement has garnered industry-wide acclaim: she has been named among Staffing Industry Analysts’ Global Power 150 Women in Staffing and recognized as a Top DE&I Influencer. Meanwhile, YUPRO Placement itself has been honored by the American Staffing Association for its best-in-class work-based learning programs, featured on the Staffing Industry Analysts’ Fastest Growing Companies list, and earned ClearlyRated’s Best of Staffing® Client Satisfaction award for five consecutive years.

Continuing her commitment to empowering women in the workforce, Michelle serves on the Women’s Leadership Board for the Harvard Kennedy School’s Women and Public Policy Program. She also volunteers with the American Staffing Association, participating on both the Women in Leadership Council and its Mentor Match Program. Under her guidance, YUPRO Placement has been honored as one of ClearlyRated’s Best Staffing Firms for Women every year since the survey’s inception, further reflecting her dedication to creating equitable, supportive career pathways.

Prior to joining YUPRO Placement, Michelle held various leadership roles in human resources supporting a variety of industries, while also following her passion for teaching, serving as an adjunct instructor for 17 years at Houston Community College. Michelle holds a B.A. in Marketing from Texas A&M University and her MBA from Houston Christian University, where she returned in 2010 to teach Human Resources for the Executive MBA program.