MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA--(Marketwire - Aug 22, 2012) - Elance, the leading global platform for online employment, today announced the appointment of two members to its executive team: Servaes Tholen as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Rich Pearson as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). Tholen will direct the finance, legal, human resources and business analytics teams at Elance. Pearson will lead Elance's global marketing team.

The executive hires come during a period of phenomenal growth for the company, which has now paid out over half a billion dollars to its base of nearly two million freelancers. Earlier this year, Elance secured $16 million in expansion capital led by Stripes Group, NEA and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, to accelerate global adoption.

"Our achievements to date are a direct result of the quality of people we hire," said Fabio Rosati, CEO at Elance. "Servaes and Rich bring world-class expertise and have proven track records of driving growth at successful technology companies."

Tholen joins Elance from eBay, where he spent more than seven years in various financial and analytical roles in Europe and the US, most recently as CFO of eBay North America. Prior to eBay, Servaes worked in the Netherlands, managing a Charity Lottery and spent seven years at McKinsey & Company as a strategy consultant. He holds a master's degree from Delft University of Technology and an MBA from INSEAD.

"Elance is revolutionizing how people work and creating tremendous new opportunities to help freelancers develop and grow their careers," said Servaes Tholen. "I am very excited by the thriving global marketplace that Elance has created, and I am looking forward to help grow it even further."

Pearson joins Elance after leading global marketing at Posterous through its acquisition by Twitter. Prior to Posterous, Pearson held senior marketing positions at Yahoo, Attributor, Homestead and Del Monte Foods. Pearson holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from University of California, Berkeley and a master's degree in business administration from Berkeley's Walter A. Haas School of Business.

"Elance has made the promise of instant access to talent a reality for millions of businesses and freelancers around the world," said Rich Pearson. "The benefits of online work are clear, and I'm excited to accelerate company growth with new marketing programs that introduce Elance to a mainstream audience."

About Elance
Elance, the world's leading platform for online employment, helps businesses hire and manage in the cloud.

For businesses looking to staff-up a team on an hourly or project basis, Elance offers instant access to talent and the ability to build and manage entire teams online. For independent professionals who want to work online, Elance offers access to qualified clients, a virtual workplace and guaranteed pay for great work.

The company is privately held and headquartered in Mountain View, California and Oslo, Norway. For more information, visit Elance at www.elance.com.