Lay of the Land - 241 Chad Delligatti of InnoSource

Chad Delligatti describes himself as someone whose values of loyalty, drive, hard work, and relationships have stayed consistent from childhood through his career. He traces his entrepreneurial instincts back to sweeping neighbors’ floors in Bexley for a quarter, selling candy at school in Granville, running a lawn-care business from seventh grade through college, and later making money buying and reselling Beanie Babies while in college. He says those experiences taught him responsibility, accountability, how to work with employees, and how to recognize supply-and-demand opportunities. 

After graduating from Ohio University and earning an MBA from the University of Dayton, Delligatti chose to join InnoSource in June 2000 rather than pursue a larger corporate opportunity. He tells Lay of the Land host and O.H.I.O Fund Principal Jeffrey Stern the decision was shaped by advice from his parents, future wife, and InnoSource’s founder, as well as by his own desire to be “one of five” building something entrepreneurial rather than “one of 10,000” at a large company. He says he has never looked back. 

Delligatti explains that InnoSource, headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, provides workforce solutions nationwide through contract staffing, on-site outsourcing, and data solutions. A major focus has been customer service and contact center work, and he says the company is now using AI to improve recruiting speed, candidate engagement, training, and service delivery while still keeping a human decision-maker involved at the end of the process. He argues that AI should enhance, not replace, the human touch, especially because behavioral interviewing remains central to making strong hires and reducing turnover. 

He also reflects on how the staffing industry evolved from newspaper classifieds, phone calls, faxed resumes, and early job boards like Monster and CareerBuilder to Indeed and now AI-enabled recruiting. According to Delligatti, InnoSource’s recent AI tools have improved speed to fill roles, increased after-hours candidate engagement, and helped identify better-fit candidates more quickly.

On leadership, Delligatti says he leads through InnoSource’s “NOA” principles: do it right, be the best, work hard/play hard, deliver strong customer service, and “bleed the red-eye passion.” He also highlights a newer upskilling initiative launched in 2024 with Otterbein and Antioch partners, where InnoSource pays participants, provides benefits, offers certificate-based training, and guarantees employment afterward.