Hayden Brown

Hayden Brown is president and CEO of Upwork, the world’s human and AI-powered work marketplace, where Fortune 100 companies through small businesses and highly skilled independent professionals from 180 countries connect and work together. Brown joined Upwork in 2011 as a product manager and held roles running Upwork’s marketplace business, as chief product officer, and as chief marketing officer before being named CEO in January 2020.

Brown is driven by her passion for delivering on Upwork’s purpose to create opportunity in every era of work. Under her leadership, Upwork has vastly expanded its product portfolio, and today, she is animated about leveraging cutting-edge technology, including AI, to make work easier and more delightful for businesses and professionals alike. Most recently, she oversaw the introduction of Uma, Upwork's Mindful AI, a powerful AI work companion designed to help businesses and freelancers every step of the way across the Upwork experience. ‍ During her time with the company, Upwork has grown from $10 million to more than $750 million in annual revenue, and from $100 million to more than $4 billion in annual client spend. Upwork’s workforce, now numbering more than 2000 team members, has always been made up of approximately 75% freelancers working remotely from around the world on the Upwork platform.

After receiving an AB in politics at Princeton University, Brown started her career at McKinsey and Company as a business analyst, where she fell in love with tech. She joined Microsoft’s online strategy team and later the company’s corporate strategy group, before starting the corporate development function at LivePerson, and eventually joining Upwork (then oDesk). She has been named to Forbes’ Future of Work 50 and SIA’s Staffing 100 North America lists, and was at the helm when Upwork was named one of TIME’s Most Influential Companies as well as one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies.