It was his “honeymoon” suggestion to his wife to start her own personnel service that was the inspiration for founding Burnett Personnel Services in 1974. In 1976, Rusty Burnett joined the firm on a full-time basis after working for twelve years with Conoco. In the early days of the company, he assembled and supervised a staff of 40+ professionals placing candidates in the fields of Exploration, Production, Supply and Transportation, Accounting, Legal, and Construction. After a severe recession in Houston in the early 1980’s, he focused his energy on expanding the temporary services part of the company, which had been started in 1978.

In the company’s early years, prior to the invention of personal computers, Rusty began using small multi-user computers. He developed one of the first personnel industry computer software programs designed to facilitate the employee/job match and placement process, which ran on small computers. This copyrighted program catapulted Burnett ahead of its competition. In the past 30 years he has continually upgraded the company’s hardware and software to maintain the company’s competitive edge.

In 2003, he replaced the company’s proprietary software with commercial front office browser based software. Many of the features of the new software were designed by Rusty and portions of the new software became the heart and sole of Burnett’s new website, which provides new and upgraded features to benefit clients, applicants, and employees.

Rusty Burnett is a former board member of the Houston Chapter of the Boy Scouts of America and the American Staffing Association. Twice he has been the recipient of the Jetson Award from Vurv Technology, which is given to the person who has futuristic and innovative ideas, which continue to shape the direction of their software. Along with his wife, Sue Burnett, he has been honored with the Entrepreneur of the Year Award from Ernst & Young and the Blue Chip Enterprise Award from MassMutual & the U.S. Chamberof Commerce.