Elaine Y. Richards, DBA

Elaine Richards is an assistant professor of the practice in the Department of Management at the Daniels College of Business. She currently teaches undergraduate and MBA classes in leadership and technology. Elaine brings extensive leadership experience from various industries, having held executive roles in operations, sales, and marketing.

Her career includes significant contributions to several companies:

• Cars.com: Elaine served as executive vice president for operations, chief marketing officer and chief product officer. Her efforts contributed to the company’s successful initial public offering (IPO) in 2017.
• Rubicon Global: Serving as president, she was instrumental in operationalizing the company’s long-term vision and driving growth initiatives. Rubicon later went public through a merger with Founder SPAC in 2022.
• Wyzant: As president and chief operating officer of this ed tech company, Elaine led the company to record growth in 2019 and 2020, and led the team to its acquisition by a strategic acquirer in 2021.
• 37signals: In her role as chief operating officer, she oversaw operations for the software company renowned for its products, Basecamp and HEY.

Education

• BA, Journalism, University of Southern California
• MBA, University of Southern California
• DBA, University of Florida

Research Interests

• Remote and hybrid work models
• Leadership and teams
• Future of Work