Ross' career in the Information Technology industry began at Management Science America, Inc., better known as MSA. Ross was the Midwest Regional Recruiter for the mainframe business applications software company, responsible for all recruiting for a 250-person region.

Ross displayed a special talent for recruiting sales and sales support staff. From 1986-1990, Ross helped the regional management team grow their sales organization, staffed an emerging professional services organization and supported the merger of MSA and McCormack & Dodge that created Dun & Bradstreet Software. The Midwest Region was twice recognized as the Number 1 in the company, and Ross was Recruiter of the Year in 1988.

Ross was handpicked to lead the review, evaluation and implementation of a selection methodology intended to significantly increase the company's odds of attracting, hiring and retaining the best salesforce in the industry. As Project Leader, Ross developed an interest in competency-based interviewing and was intimately involved in the study of top sales performers.

The selection practices that emerged were used everywhere in the organization, and the company gained a reputation throughout the industry as a model of successful hiring practices and a wellspring of talent. MSA and its successor Dun & Bradstreet Software were committed to acquiring talent, and the company's market position and the emergence of many of its employees to positions of leadership in the industry today attest to the success of this approach.

In 1990, Ross moved into sales and was assigned to the Healthcare vertical, with responsibility for a seven-state territory. Ross sold the full suite of financial, materials management and human resources applications as well as healthcare specific products such as Patient Cost Accounting and Case Mix Analysis, and sold the second beta-site of DBS's SmartStream Client-Server platform.

In 1993, Ross joined Marketing Personnel Research, Inc, a Chicago competency-based interviewing and training consultancy as the Director of Business Development. Ross had responsibility for the sales & marketing efforts of the company, and managed the consultants responsible for the delivery of MPR's services. While there, MPR's revenues grew 25% and the firm successfully introduced three new service offerings. Ross was also personally delivered consulting services and built a practice focusing on Information Technology companies, adding ten companies to his client portfolio. In December 1995, Ross left MPR and founded Selection Strategies.

Prior to joining MSA, Ross was in the US Army and served in various command and staff positions as an Airborne-Ranger qualified Infantry officer, culminating in his command of a 300 man Infantry company assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division along the Demilitarized Zone in the Republic of Korea. Ross has a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY.

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