Our Team
Forrest Johnson Recruiting is a woman-owned business, founded in 2009. We have a team of extremely talented individuals, who each bring their own unique contributions to helping our clients find the talent they need to grow their businesses.
Erin Johnson - Founding Principal
Erin began her career in executive search 15 years ago while on a job search of her own, when the firm that was working with her as a candidate hired her for themselves. Her prior experience in advertising and marketing enables her to help firms attract the right talent. Her experience in doing business development for an Internet startup taught her a lot about building a business and the value of having the right team in place.
Erin quickly rose through the ranks at that traditional executive search firm and became an associate partner within a few years. She developed a reputation for effectively serving a broad range of clients and candidates across diverse industries. Over the years Erin has developed a particular expertise in general corporate search, with a successful track record in helping clients build and grow sales, marketing, operations, and human resources teams all over the country.
Erin is originally from Atlanta and graduated from Furman University with two degrees, a BA in Music and a BA in Communications. She and her husband have 4 children and are active members of Church of the Apostles.
Drew Johnson - Managing Principal
Drew is a “ramblin’ wreck from Georgia Tech” and could have been a “helluva” engineer. He brings a naturally inquisitive and analytical mind to the recruiting process.
He draws upon broad professional experience that includes 2 years of postgraduate study in China and 4 years on staff with Cru. Drew has also worked in operations for 2 multi-national corporations, spanning the transportation and commercial real estate industries.
Given his entrepreneurial bent, joining forces with his wife Erin to launch Forrest Johnson was inevitable. Drew is responsible for the strategic leadership and operational management of the firm, which includes new business development, as well as candidate sourcing and recruiting.
Originally from the Gulf Coast of Florida, Drew has called Atlanta home since 1993. He has earned a BS in Electrical Engineering with honors from Georgia Tech and an MBA from Emory University's Goizueta Business School. He is an active member of Church of the Apostles and teaches the 6th grade boys Sunday school class.
Sandra Walton - Operations Manager
Sandy knows how to get things done! Long before the push to recruit female technology talent, she was a business analyst in the retail industry, helping several employers migrate to computer systems and technology-driven processes. Most recently, before joining the Forrest Johnson team, Sandy served for 8 years as the Executive Director of Rebuilding Together in Lynchburg, VA. She has touched countless peoples lives and added tremendous value to for-profit companies and nonprofit organizations by helping people succeed together.
As the Operations Manager, Sandy’s role is to ensure that Forrest Johnson delivers recruiting services with excellence and a customer experience such that clients and candidates alike would enthusiastically refer us to the people they know.
Sandy earned Bachelor’s degrees from both Samford University and the University of Alabama at Birmingham in Retailing and Computer Science respectively. She is married and enjoys time with her two sons and their families. In her spare time Sandy works on family history and genealogy.
Katelyn Chason - Recruiting Coordinator
Katelyn grew up in a small coastal town in southern Alabama where she enjoyed life on the water and small town charm. Coming from a family of University of Alabama graduates, she decided to surprise them all by announcing she would be attending their rival school, Auburn University. After graduation she surprised them again by announcing she would be moving to central Florida to complete an internship at Walt Disney World.
A move that was supposed to last six months somehow turned into seven years and in that time Katelyn had opportunities to work for “the big three”; Disney, SeaWorld, and Universal. She worked on refining her customer service skills working directly with the customers, and was quickly given the opportunity to transition her skills to the Human Resources Benefits and Training teams bringing the same level of customer service to employees.
Her time in Florida led to many incredible experiences, including leading the training teams for two restaurant openings, riding roller coasters on lunch breaks, and meeting her husband. At the start of 2021 they decided to pursue new experiences by moving to Atlanta where Katelyn joined the Forrest Johnson team as a Recruiting Coordinator.