Opus Scientific

Long Island Business News launched the Top 50 Most Influential Women in Business awards in 2000 to recognize the important role women play in Long Islands economy. The honorees represent the most influential women in business, government, education, and the not-for-profit fields, and are selected by a panel of business leaders based on professional accomplishment, mentoring and community involvement.

In 2008 Barbara Gebhardt, President of Opus Staffing, was awarded as one of the Top 50 Most Influential Women in Business.

Barbara Gebhardt is the President of Opus Staffing and has been in the employment field since 1981. Starting her career with Career Blazers in New York City in 1981, she went on to open its first franchise in 1987. She later opened a Career Blazers training center which successfully integrated training and placement. Career Blazers Learning Center, under Gebhardts direction, was dedicated to the training and placement of displaced workers and was highly effective in placing graduates in jobs with Long Island companies. This became the model for sites nationwide.

In 1996, Gebhardt was asked to take on a corporate role and became the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Career Blazers, responsible for all company operations while continuing to operate the office on Long Island.

In 2004, Gebhardt separated from the Career Blazers franchise program and created Opus Staffing, a staffing service firm which specializes in the areas of administrative and executive support, human resources, and sales and marketing. In 2006, she created a new division, Opus Scientific, to keep locally trained scientists on Long Island and attract scientific talent to the area. The Opus Scientific team was asked to develop Human Resources Tracks for both the Annual Long Island Life Sciences Summit and the New York Biotech Associations annual state wide conference.

Gebhardt is currently working with the American Heart Association and the Go Red Movement. She has served as Vice President of the Long Island Chapter of the Alzheimers Association and President of the Advisory Council for the National Council for the Aging. She served on the board of the New York Staffing Association and is a past president of the Association of Personnel Consultants, Long Island Chapter. She was selected by the American Cancer Society to serve on a committee to develop a Volunteer Recruitment and Retention Plan for the organization. In 2008, Gebhardt received The Alternative Boards Most Accomplished Member Award. She is also a recipient of the New York State Jenkins Award for distinguished service to Half Hollow Hills PTA.