# Jon Beck

> Jon Beck is the Founder and CEO of Ursus, Inc., a San Francisco-based staffing firm he built from scratch in 2015 into one of the fastest-growing in the U.S., recognized by Staffing Industry Analysts for four consecutive years. A UC Berkeley psychology graduate and three-time rugby All-American, Beck brings 25+ years of technology executive experience across startups and global enterprises — including a stint at Cisco-acquired Embrane — to a company built around technical and creative talent for the digital transformation era.

- **Role:** Founder & CEO at Ursus, Inc.
- **Organizations:** Ursus, Inc., Embrane Inc., Dimension Data, OpSource, PanTerra Networks
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, University of California, Berkeley
- **Known for:** Founded Ursus, Inc. in 2015 and scaled it to a recognized industry leader with 250+ employees, Four consecutive years on SIA's Fastest-Growing Staffing Firms list (2021-2024), Three-time Rugby All-American and two-time National Collegiate Rugby Champion at UC Berkeley

## Career timeline

- **1990s** — Graduated UC Berkeley with BA in Psychology; three-time Rugby All-American and two-time National Collegiate Rugby Champion
- **2000s** — Chief Operating Officer at PanTerra Networks
- **2000s-2010s** — Led cloud and managed services operations at OpSource
- **2010s** — Global sales and cloud operations leadership at Dimension Data following its acquisition of OpSource
- **2013-2015** — Senior Vice President of Field Operations at Embrane Inc., a data center SDN startup
- **2015** — Cisco acquires Embrane; Beck departs and founds Ursus, Inc.
- **2021** — Ursus recognized by SIA as one of the fastest-growing staffing firms in the U.S. (first of four consecutive years)
- **2022** — Ursus creates Contractor Council to give contingent workers a voice in company direction
- **2023** — Creative division surpasses 20% of total company revenue
- **2024** — Ursus launches Life Sciences division; partners with Curately AI for talent sourcing; earns fourth consecutive SIA fastest-growing recognition

## Achievements

- Founded Ursus, Inc. in 2015 and scaled it to a recognized industry leader with 250+ employees
- Four consecutive years on SIA's Fastest-Growing Staffing Firms list (2021-2024)
- Three-time Rugby All-American and two-time National Collegiate Rugby Champion at UC Berkeley
- Part of six executive management teams with successful acquisitions or IPOs
- Led go-to-market at Embrane through successful Cisco acquisition (2015)
- Created the Ursus Contractor Council, a first-of-kind forum for contingent workers in the staffing industry
- Expanded Ursus from pure tech staffing into creative and life sciences verticals
- Built Ursus into remote-first company 5+ years before the pandemic normalized it

## Latest updates

- **2024-10** — Ursus partners with Curately to deploy AI-powered talent curation and direct sourcing
- **2024-04** — Ursus launches Life Sciences division with Andrew Peters as Division Leader, targeting $50M in revenue
- **2024-01** — Ursus earns fourth consecutive SIA Fastest-Growing Staffing Firms recognition
- **2023-01** — Ursus Contractor Council launched as quarterly forum for contingent workers
- **2022-01** — Jon Beck speaks at World Staffing Summit on Leadership in a Remote Work World

## Links

- Website: https://ursusinc.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jonbeck
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/ursusinc
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ursusinc/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/jon-beck
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-30