Elena Richards

Elena is the U.S. Minority Initiatives and Talent Management Leader for the Office of Diversity at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. A thought leader on diversity and inclusion (D&I) strategies, she is responsible for the firm’s multicultural initiatives designed to retain, develop and advance diverse professionals. Elena is also responsible for PwC’s Diamond program, a coaching and advocacy program for high-potential minority senior managers and directors.

Since joining PwC, Elena has served in a variety of Human Capital roles and spearheaded the firm's signature Vanguard program, a year-long leadership development program for the firm’s Black/African American new hires. She is currently responsible for leading the Firm’s efforts around unconscious bias education and worked with Mahzarin Banaji from Harvard University to launch the Outsmarting Human Minds project. The hope of this project is that by knowing the science, we can take steps to recognize and even conquer our blind spots and ultimately improve the decisions we make in life and at work.

Prior to joining the firm, Elena worked for Inroads, where she led Talent Acquisition for their Northern New Jersey affiliate. She was responsible for placing talented minority interns in organizations like PwC and converting them to full-time hires. Externally, Elena is a member of Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) and NAAHR (National Association of African Americans in Human Resources). She also sits on Working Mother Media’s Advisory Board for Multicultural Women, which focuses on deepening the conversation around race and gender in the workplace. Most recently, Elena was appointed to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ (AICPA) National Commission on Diversity and Inclusion. She is a magna cum laude graduate from University of NY at Albany and received her Executive Coaching credential through the International Coach Federation in 2014.