Tim Simmerly is the CEO of Planet Professional’s parent company, The Planet Group, and drives the growth and innovation of our global consulting and staffing companies.

With more than twenty years of experience in talent and human capital services, Tim has been an integral part of The Planet Group since our inception in 2009, serving in multiple leadership roles and leading the launch of several of Planet’s brands. He became CEO in September 2024 after serving as President for several years.

Tim’s deep industry knowledge and visionary approach along with his leadership ability and operational excellence are key to his role in expanding The Planet Group into new market segments worldwide while ensuring our position at the forefront of human capital consulting and professional staffing.

Jon Whiley is the CTO of The Planet Group of companies and is responsible for leading the firm’s innovative technology strategy, including network infrastructure, system integrations, process improvements, new technology implementations, and IT support.

Jon has over 20 years of progressive tech and operations experience delivering transformative solutions that drive immediate business impact and continuous improvements across enterprises. During his career, he has designed competitive tools and adopted technology to optimize workflows and strengthen service delivery across multisite operations.

Prior to joining The Planet Group, Jon was Executive Vice President and CTO of Majestic Steel USA. A veteran of the US Marine Corps and graduate of Ohio University, he serves as a Governing Body Member of Evanta’s Midwest CIO group and is also involved with the Northeast Ohio chapter of SIM.

Jeff Dillenburg brings over 20 years of experience in operations within the human capital consulting and staffing world to his role as Chief Operating Officer of The Planet Group and has a strong track record of success everywhere he has been. He was one of the first employees at both Inforte and Slalom Consulting and played an integral role in executing their high growth strategy as Managing Director.

Along with his Planet COO responsibilities, Jeff concurrently serves in the same capacity with Strive Consulting which The Planet Group acquired in December of 2021. Jeff has been with Strive since 2015 and has been instrumental in helping drive the strategy to restructure the organization from a staffing firm to a consulting firm.

Jeff brings a tremendous track record of success and hard work and is a thought leader that has used many innovative approaches to help construct some of the best delivery platforms in the business.

Philip Monti is the CFO of The Planet Group and is responsible for driving the firm’s profitability as well as providing financial discipline and capital direction. With over two decades of senior financial leadership and a deep understanding of the global consulting and staffing industries, Phil excels at overseeing complex financial systems that serve enterprise-level organizations with thousands of employees.

He is a valued business partner with a strong record of balancing the interests of executive leadership and the board while also being a financial voice for the organization; navigating debt and equity capital transactions; and negotiating, closing and communicating M&A transactions in private equity and public company environments.

Prior to joining The Planet Group, Phil was Chief Financial Officer of DISYS where he helped guide the firm as a global staffing leader. Previously, he served in a variety of similar executive-level corporate finance roles with Signature Consultants and Acosta Sales & Marketing. A certified public accountant, Phil received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida and his Master’s in Accounting from the University of North Florida.

A champion of the now and next, Chief Strategy Officer Russ Whitman leads the go-to-market strategy for Planet and its global consulting and staffing divisions. He has over 25 years of experience in digital product development, business and marketing and has successfully grown several AI, SaaS and cloud-based technology companies from startups to multi-million-dollar entities.

As president, Jeff Bonci oversees the strategy and operations of Planet Professional, a staffing and recruitment firm specializing in Accounting & Finance, Human Resources and Administrative. In addition to helping Planet Professional expand its national footprint, Jeff leads a team of nearly 100 staffing professionals. He has 15+ years of relationship building, solution selling and business strategy, all within the staffing industry.

Prior to joining the firm, Jeff was the Senior Managing Director of Collabera, a digital-first engineering technology talent leader, where he helped increase billing by 500% and developed a multi-region sales team. Jeff has also held senior management, sales and recruiter positions with Insight Global, a full-service staffing agency.

Jeff holds a Bachelor’s degree from Stonehill College in Easton, MA and volunteers with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

David Janowsky oversees the business development activities of Planet Professional. In addition to his work directly with clients, David leads a team of professional sales people while working closely with the group’s Recruiting team to support clients. Committed to success, David always strives to continuously provide the highest quality service to candidates and clients while leading his team to grow and fulfill their potential.

Danielle Avril oversees recruitment activities at Planet Professional and leads day-to-day operations for our national staffing team. In her role, she manages a team of industry professionals committed to providing a consultative approach to clients and candidates alike. She received her Bachelor’s from the University of South Florida.