Our Founders
George Hughes, Co-Founder
George Hughes, a former professional ice hockey player, built his career on competitiveness and resiliency. As a two-time captain at St. Lawrence University, he earned NCAA All-American honors while leading all defensemen in scoring his senior year and scored 105 points in 150 games in his college career. He went on to play professionally in the AHL and ECHL.
After his playing career, George spent six years in sports media broadcasting with the NHL on NBC Sports and later co-founded Next Shift Hockey, a media platform focused on the transition to life after sports. There, he interviewed more than 150 leaders across the sports and hockey world, including NHL coaches, Stanley Cup champions and Olympians, and well-known media personalities.
Drawing on the lessons from these conversations, George transitioned into recruiting, where he has since become a trusted advisor to athletes and veterans navigating career pivots. Over the past several years, he has guided hundreds of candidates into B2B sales roles, including many who went on to win promotions and “Rookie of the Year” honors.
As Co-Founder of Breakaway Talent Group, George leverages his athlete’s mindset and recruiting expertise to connect companies with high-performing, culture-changing sales talent. His expertise spans coaching and mentorship, candidate talent development, recruiting strategy, candidate evaluation, and business growth, enabling him to deliver top-tier candidates who excel in competitive sales environments.
Matt Mueller, Co-Founder
Matt Mueller brings a football player’s grit and a coach’s eye for talent to Breakaway Talent Group. A former collegiate football player, Matt spent over a decade in college athletics, holding key recruiting and coaching roles at Michigan State University, the University of Colorado, and Independence Community College. At Michigan State, he led on-campus recruiting for the football program, managing talent evaluation and program operations.
Transitioning into recruiting and sales, Matt worked at NCSA and later at Shift Group, where they built one of the most successful athlete-to-sales placement pipelines in the industry. He also served as a National Account Manager at Catapult, leveraging his deep network in college athletics to drive growth and deliver technology solutions to sports programs.
As Co-Founder of Breakaway Talent Group, Matt combines his coaching and recruiting experience to identify top talent, develop candidates, and match them with growth-minded companies. His expertise spans strategic sales, recruiting operations, customer relationship management, and athlete development, enabling him to deliver high-performing candidates who thrive in competitive sales environments.