Elaine's our regular guest expert.  She's a talent strategist at Yahoo!  

In Elaine's prior experience as a consultant and coach, she specialized in recruiting and developing human capital for organizations. She designed and executed complex, large-scale recruiting strategies for high growth companies, where she brought innovative solutions to difficult recruiting problems. She has extensive, in-depth knowledge of employer branding and marketing strategies, sourcing methodologies, recruitment processes, web-based tools, social and professional networks, and global talent channels.

As a recruiting leader in a number of Fortune 500 organizations, Elaine has hired over 10,000 people, and she is an expert in the art of positioning people perfectly for the jobs they desire. She understands what captures the attention of companies, and she provides her clients with the tools, processes and little-known secrets that will take them where they want to go. Elaine is currently a recruiting/talent strategist with Yahoo!

Elaine moved to Silicon Valley from the East Coast more than twenty years ago to become part of the industry that would ultimately build the computer technology foundation for the rest of the world. From the early days of semiconductors through the Internet boom and the dot com bust, Elaine has had the privilege of leading many teams to greatness within the Human Resources and Talent Acquisition arenas.

Before taking on her current role with Yahoo! Elaine served as Vice President, Talent Acquisition with Fox Interactive Media, Los Angeles-based parent company of MySpace, Photobucket, FOXSports.com, and AmericanIdol.com. Prior to that, Elaine held a variety of executive leadership positions, including Vice President, Human Resources at New Focus, Inc. and Director, Global Talent at Synopsys, Inc.

Early in her career, Elaine was principal of Fortier Associates, Inc., an HR consulting firm. Later, between corporate roles, she partnered for two years with Denise Brouillette at The Innovative Edge, where together they delivered leadership development services to such companies as Yahoo!, eBay, Applied Materials, Sun Microsystems, Excite @ Home, Epiphany, and others.

Elaine is certified in various evaluative instruments, such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and the Lominger LEADERSHIP ARCHITECT Suite. She was a featured executive in the third edition of The Leadership Challenge, and she has been a guest speaker for several Human Resources organizations in Northern and Southern California. She is a trained coach, and she holds a B.A. in English Literature from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where she graduated magna cum laude with life-long teacher certification.

Elaine loves to be outdoors, preferably near sand and sea. She adores running with her little Yorkie, Molly, and is still tolerated by her two twenty-something kids, Chris and Jessica. She reads voraciously--fiction, non-fiction, spiritual enlightenment, trashy magazines…you name it--and she seeks the company of uplifting people. Movies are her addiction, and once upon a time she was a baton twirler and roller skate dancer.