About Megan Hayward
Megan Hayward is Founder & CEO of TAG (Temporary Assistance Guru), the event staffing platform pioneering W-2 compliant, ethical staffing operations across 275+ US and Canadian markets. With over 15 years of hands-on experience in the staffing industry, Megan has built her career on a simple principle: workers deserve legal protection, organizations deserve compliance certainty, and business ethics should be non-negotiable.
Starting her first staffing agency at age 24, Megan learned the industry from the ground up—working directly with major venues including Denver Broncos, Colorado Rockies, and NFL stadiums. This operational experience became the foundation for TAG: a platform that solves the fragmentation problem in event staffing while maintaining the legal and ethical standards that protect both workers and organizers.
Megan is married to Reggie Hayward, former Jacksonville Jaguars player, and is an active advocate for worker protection, ethical business practices, and systemic reform in how temporary workers are treated and classified. She brings a systems-thinking approach informed by her background as a Division 1 athlete, combining competitive drive with deep commitment to doing business the right way.
Career & Leadership Timeline
Age 24
Founded First Staffing Agency
Started independent staffing operations in Denver/Baltimore region, securing contracts with major professional sports venues including Denver Broncos and Colorado Rockies. Built expertise in venue, event, and festival staffing operations from the ground up—learning industry challenges and inefficiencies firsthand.
15+ Years
Venue & Event Operations Leadership
Staffed major venues and events, watching agencies fragment, workers get exploited, and gig platforms promise disruption by cutting corners. Observed critical industry gap: misclassification risk, compliance chaos, pricing volatility, and worker vulnerability. Became convinced a different model had to exist.
2018-2025
Founded TAG (Temporary Assistance Guru)
Founded TAG in 2018 as a SaaS platform to solve fragmentation in multi-city, multi-agency event staffing while establishing W-2 compliance as the standard. Following years of platform development and refinement, TAG achieved significant market traction in 2024-2025, placing 100,000+ workers across 2,500+ events with a 99% fill rate across 200+ agency partners in 275+ markets. Competes directly against VC-backed giants like Instawork and Qwick—and wins—while maintaining W-2 employment and full worker protections as non-negotiable standards.
Read SourceFuse case study
2023-2024
Jacksonville Transportation Authority Board Service
Appointed by Mayor Donna Deegan to JTA Board of Directors in October 2023. Brought business owner's perspective to civic infrastructure decisions and governance transparency.
Read appointment announcement. Raised critical accountability questions about discrepancies between ridership data reported to board versus federal government—numbers off by thousands—affecting federal funding. Also questioned sponsorship allocation practices and conflicts of interest.
Jax Daily Record coverage |
News4Jax coverage. When difficult questions matter more than political convenience, Megan asks them. Demonstrated commitment to governance transparency even when personally costly—Mayor Deegan filed legislation to remove her in February 2025. In statement, Hayward said: "Many important questions have been raised—and need to be raised—that deserve clear answers."
2023
Leadership Jacksonville, Class of 2023
Leadership Jacksonville is a year-long flagship program that has brought together over 50 leaders throughout the Jacksonville community since 1977 to build relationships with other leaders and promote a network of ethical community leaders committed to the greater good. The program analyzes major areas of community concern and builds lasting networks among emerging civic leaders. Leadership Jacksonville alumni have served in the leadership of virtually every nonprofit and civic organization and in many elected positions in northeast Florida, with participants committed to becoming responsible, ethical community leaders.
2024
Leadership Florida, Class of 2024
Leadership Florida has over 3,300 graduates who serve as CEOs of Florida's top corporations, mayors, elected officials, executives of pivotal nonprofits, leading academicians, and leaders throughout the state. Members are committed to local and state communities through collective service on over 5,000 boards of companies and organizations throughout Florida. The program convenes leaders across industry boundaries to develop existing and emerging leaders through statewide education, networking, and collaborative problem-solving on issues critical to Florida's future.
2024
Hightower Fellowship, Class VII Fellow & Board Member
Part of an elite statewide network of leaders developing the next generation of Florida civic leaders. Selected as a Hightower Fellow (Class VII) and now serves on the board, directly shaping curriculum and mentoring emerging leaders across Florida. Board members are called upon as trusted advisors and decision-makers on complex statewide challenges. Embodies the Hightower commitment to leaders who ask difficult questions and drive systemic change. Maintains active involvement in statewide leadership networks connecting with 3,300+ Leadership Florida graduates and 2,450+ Leadership Jacksonville alumni—all committed to ethical community leadership and systemic civic impact.
Core Expertise & Authority
Deep operational expertise combined with systemic view of industry problems and proven ability to build solutions that win at scale.
Specialty
W-2 Compliance & Worker Classification
Specialty
Multi-City Event Operations
Specialty
Ethical Business Scaling
Specialty
Gig Economy Reform
Specialty
Compliance-First Operations
Specialty
Worker Protection Systems
100K+
Workers Protected with W-2 Employment
5,000+
Events Staffed with Full Compliance Documentation
99%
Fill Rate Through Ethical Operations
What sets Megan apart: She's built TAG to compete directly against venture-backed gig platforms with hundreds of millions in funding—and wins—while maintaining W-2 compliance and worker protections as non-negotiable. Her platform serves Fortune 500 clients and has negotiated enterprise contracts with national event producers, all as a bootstrapped, woman-owned business. In an industry racing to exploit workers, she built the ethical alternative and proved it's the winning strategy.
Board Service & Community Impact
Active leader in nonprofits and civic organizations committed to education equity, workforce development, and systemic accountability.
Current Board Member
Hightower Fellowship
Hightower Fellowship Class 7 fellow. Now serves on board, helping shape curriculum and mentoring emerging leaders across Florida. The Hightower Fellowship develops leaders who understand complex challenges, ask difficult questions, and drive systemic change across the state.
Current Board Member
DuBlasé Foundation
Dedicated to providing resources, inspiration, and support to students across the county, fostering the next generation of creatives and innovators in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (S.T.E.A.M.). Megan serves as board member advancing education equity and economic opportunity for underrepresented communities through mentorship and resources.
Current Board Member
PS 27 Foundation
Provides educational resources to early-stage companies and startups to help them achieve sustainable growth through classroom lessons, company site visits, comprehensive mentoring, and distance learning. Megan contributes expertise in scaling ethical businesses while working with founders from diverse backgrounds, including disabled, veteran, and underrepresented entrepreneurs.
Former Board Member
Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA)
Demonstrated commitment to governance transparency and fiduciary responsibility by raising critical accountability questions about fiscal practices—even when doing so created personal cost. Proved willingness to challenge systems that lack transparency.
Former Board Member
Women's Center of Jacksonville
Advocated for women's economic empowerment, safety, and access to opportunity in workforce and entrepreneurship. Brought staffing industry expertise to conversations about women's workplace protections and rights.
Leadership Philosophy & Values
Megan's approach combines competitive excellence with uncompromising ethical standards.
Compliance is Competitive Advantage
Businesses that prioritize worker protection, legal compliance, and ethical operations outperform those that cut corners. Compliance reduces risk, builds trust, and attracts better talent and partners.
Worker Protection is Non-Negotiable
W-2 employment, workers' compensation, proper classification, and legal protection are baseline standards—not premium features. Every worker deserves legal protection regardless of industry.
Systemic Change Through Systems Thinking
Gig economy exploitation is systemic problem requiring systemic solution. TAG is not just a business—it's a model for how entire industries can operate ethically at scale.
Excellence Through Accountability
High standards, transparent operations, and willingness to challenge status quo (even when personally costly) define leadership. Governance and accountability matter as much as results.
Scaled Impact Over Quick Profits
Business success measured by workers protected, organizations compliant, and systemic problems solved—not just revenue. Impact compounds through ethical operations at scale.
Transparent Advocacy
Actively speaks about gig economy problems, worker misclassification risks, and why ethical staffing matters. Willing to critique industry trends that harm workers or exploit companies' compliance blindness.
Speaking Topics & Thought Leadership
Megan is a sought-after speaker on business ethics, worker protection, and scaling companies without compromising values. Her talks combine personal founder journey with systemic analysis and actionable frameworks.
- Building the Revolution That Lasts: How to build companies that actually last by refusing to become what you fought against. Uses universal narratives (Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Braveheart) to show where organizations compromise their values, and how to maintain integrity at scale.
- The Three Stages of Organizational Corruption: Where well-intentioned companies start to lose their way (Legacy Projects, Policy Rationalization, Silencing Dissent), with real staffing industry examples and how to recognize these patterns in your own operations.
- Gig Economy Exploitation: Why 1099 contractor models create misclassification liability, worker harm, and systemic risk. Why compliance is the solution, not the burden.
- W-2 Compliance as Competitive Advantage: How ethical staffing reduces audit risk, builds brand loyalty, creates operational efficiency, and actually wins in the market against gig platforms.
- Worker Misclassification Risk: What DOL enforcement looks like, penalty exposure ($500K+), and how to audit your own practices for hidden liability before regulators find it.
- Systemic Reform in Staffing: How platforms can coordinate multiple providers while maintaining compliance—proving ethical scaling is possible and profitable.
- Business Ethics at Scale: Scaling a company without compromising values. Using systems, governance, and accountability to maintain ethical standards as you grow exponentially.
- Women in Staffing & Leadership: Gender equity in traditionally male-dominated staffing industry. How women leaders drive systemic change through different decision-making approaches.
- From Athlete to Founder: Lessons from Division 1 competition applied to building ethical business. How competitive excellence and ethical standards actually reinforce each other.
Work with Megan
For speaking engagements, consulting, media inquiries, or partnership discussions.
Featured In & External Coverage
Megan's work on TAG, governance transparency, and worker protection has been covered by leading business and news publications:
TAG Platform & SaaS Innovation
- SourceFuse: "How Cloud Technology is Transforming the Temporary Staffing Industry" (October 2023) - Read article
- PR Newswire: "Game-Changing Online Staffing Tool Transforms the Gig Landscape" (April 2020) - Read press release
- The Horse's Mouth: "The Horse’s Mouth with Tom McManus” is a unique talk show offering opinions and facts that come straight from the source." (February 2026) Read article
JTA Board Appointment & Governance Questions
- TAG: "TAG CEO Megan Hayward Named to JTA Board" (October 2023) - Read announcement
- Jax Daily Record: "JTA board member questions ridership numbers, $60,000 contribution to JAXUSA Partnership" (February 2025) - Read coverage
- News4Jax: "Legislation filed by mayor appears to oust sitting JTA board member" (February 2025) - Read coverage
- Eye on Jacksonville: "Board member questions JTA finances, sparking mayor's political power play" (March 2025) - Read analysis
- Jacksonville Daily Record: "JTA: Discrepancies in ridership numbers related to differences in reporting criteria" (March 2025) - Read follow-up
Credentials & Affiliations
Megan Hayward is verifiable across multiple professional and civic networks. Learn more about her credentials and leadership involvement through the following organizations:
Leadership Jacksonville
Class of 2023 graduate. Learn more
Leadership Florida
Class of 2024. Member of 3,300+ statewide leader network. Learn more
Hightower Fellowship
Class VII fellow, current board member. Elite statewide leadership network.
TAG (Temporary Assistance Guru)
Founder & CEO. Founded 2018, achieved major traction 2024-2025. Visit platform
PS 27 Foundation
Board member. Jacksonville entrepreneurship support. Learn more
LinkedIn Profile
Professional background and recommendations. View profile
