The “Online Staffing/Human Cloud” Top 8 (Most Influential) List: Finding New Ways To Make Work Work

While I realize that “online staffing” and other “human cloud” platforms are not the favorite topics of everyone in the staffing industry, as a research analyst whose job it is to cover this emerging set of developments, it seemed to me that it would be informative to look into the Staffing Top 100 List and blog about how many of those 100 are also top influencers in the online staffing and other human cloud platforms areas.

Note: My list is not an official SIA list, just my highlighting of certain individuals within that official top 100 list.

It was certainly interesting to me that, out of the top 100 influencers, eight have actually been significant influencers this past year (or prior) in the online staffing and other human cloud platforms areas. These are individuals who have clearly been engaging in the cutting-edge leveraging of online work-arrangement intermediation platforms to work out new innovative models that may help to make the staffing industry more efficient and deliver new value-added services for both business customers and workers.

While I know there are many more than eight staffing executives engaging in the emerging area, these eight people (on the top 100 list) have been entirely visible influencers when it comes to online staffing and other human cloud platforms. So I’d like to note who they are and briefly what their influence has been.

Peter Cannone
OnForce, President and CEO

Peter has been leading OnForce for over several years, shifting the platform from being a niche player in “field tech service contractor management” to a broader set of platform-based, enterprise “managed workforce offerings” it is calling “Workforce-as-a-Service.”

Eugene Holtzman
Mitchell Martin Inc., Founder and President 

Gene is one of those amazing people who understand technology and innovation (as sources of business efficiency and growth). Mitchell Martin has been highly successful by embracing VMS. Now the firm is the first major staffing firm to implement the NextCrew platform in one of its various staffing segments.

Jeff Leventhal
Work Market, Co-Founder and CEO

Jeff is a successful serial entrepreneur who became interested 10 years ago in how technology can transform “work arrangements.”  His latest venture is Work Market, a new way to leverage online platforms to enable enterprises to source and engage local (typically on-site) independent contractors. Work Market also entered into an important partnership with MBO Partners.

Tim McPherson
Nesco Resource, President and COO

Tim is another one of those amazing people who understand technology and innovation (as sources of business efficiency and growth).  Earlier this year, Tim led Nesco into a ground-breaking partnership with online platform business Field Nation, the first partnership of its kind.

Chirag Mehta
NextCrew, Founder and CEO

Chirag is the inventor of the first “white label” online staffing platform that other staffing firms can license, brand, and leverage in order to “put into gear” their own online staffing service offerings.  NextCrew has paved the way to make staffing model innovation accessible to staffing firms of almost any size.

Fabio Rosati
Elance, CEO

Fabio is the leader of one of the largest and most innovative global online staffing businesses.  He is both serious entrepreneur and a serial innovator who also built and sold a successful VMS business and then started Elance.  Elance brought two innovative offerings to market this Fall in the form of (1) a notable partnership (with Smarterer and SkilledUp) that supports skill testing and learning and (2) a new offering (called Private Talent Cloud) for enterprise class users.

Gary Swart
oDesk, CEO

Under Gary’s executive leadership, oDesk has grown to become the world’s largest online staffing business (measured in terms of “gross spend on platform”).  ODesk processed over $350M of spend in 2012 and in 2013 recently became the first online staffing businesses to process more than $1B in cumulative spend since start-up.

Gene Zaino
MBO Partners Inc., CEO

Gene is the leader of the largest ICEC (Independent Contractor Compliance and Evaluation) service provider in the US, but Gene’s vision for MBO has always been much greater than just compliance management. His vision of providing a complete bridge between enterprises and independent consulting/self-employed professionals has led him to MBO’s groundbreaking partnership with Work Market and the introduction of the “Managed Contractor Cloud.”

There you have it: My list of the eight most influential people in online staffing and other human cloud platforms areas. Let’s all applaud these staffing industry pioneers for embracing the spirit of innovation and the search for new and better staffing solutions for businesses and workers.