Gary Swart

Gary Swart is the CEO of oDesk, the world’s largest online workplace—on which more than 35 million hours were worked in 2012 alone. Gary is a thought leader in how best to hire and manage teams, and the future of work. He is passionate about helping small businesses thrive, fueled by his extensive experience working with startups and small businesses that use oDesk, as well as by mentoring entrepreneurs and business school students. Gary has spoken at the Inc. Leadership Conference, The Economist’s Ideas Economy panel, South by Southwest, TechCrunch 50, TiECon, GigaOM’s Net:Work Conference in 2010 and 2011, and at Harvard Business School which teaches a case study on oDesk. His commentary has appeared in a variety of publications includingForbes,TechCrunch andThe Washington Post. He has also appeared on numerous TV and radio shows, includingBBC,National Public Radio, CNBC and Bloomberg TV. Previously, he led SMB Sales for the Americas at IBM’s Rational Software Product Group, and prior to that served as VP of Worldwide Sales at Intellibank, where he was responsible for leading the sales organization. Gary holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Maryland.