Ellen (she/her) is a Senior Director on the Strategy Team and an Executive Coach at Third Plateau. She leads project teams to deeply understand each client’s current needs, designs and executes a practical and thoughtful approach to strategic planning, and facilitates interactive client sessions that uncover strengths, pinpoints obstacles, and surface opportunities while driving toward solutions. Ellen has facilitated strategic and culture planning processes with organizations such as Vibrant Pittsburgh and Improve Your Tomorrow, coordinated key actors in the Sacramento region in a competitive and successful bid for the K-16 Regional Collaborative grant, and designed and facilitated convenings such as that of public health experts for the California Council on Science and Technology.

Ellen began her career teaching in Germany on a Fulbright fellowship. She then spent five years at Year Up, a national workforce development nonprofit, where she held a variety of roles in operations, admissions, and program management. Ellen also worked at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and NewSchools Venture Fund, where she focused on public school innovation.

Ellen holds a B.A. from Bowdoin College and an M.B.A. from the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business, where she focused on social impact strategy and co-chaired the Race Inclusion Initiative, a student consulting group. She completed executive coach training through the Co-Active Training Institute in San Rafael, CA. Ellen lives in western Sonoma County and enjoys traveling, hiking with her dog, kayaking the Russian River, and playing board games.