Elena Gerstmann, PhD, FASAE, CAE is the Executive Director of INFORMS. With over 12,000 members from around the globe, INFORMS is the leading international association for professionals in operations research and analytics. Our members "save lives, save money, and solve problems."
Prior to INFORMS, Elena served as a Principal with Avenue M where she served as a consultant, facilitator, researcher, and leader on key client projects. Prior to Avenue M, Elena was on the senior executive team at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) where she was responsible for strategy and planning, volunteer leadership development, corporate communications, international relationships, and board relationships and operations. Before being recruited to ASME, she worked for IEEE for 16 years where her last position was on the executive leadership team.
Elena is a committed leader, thought trailblazer, and published author within the association industry. She has served on many volunteer boards/committees, including serving on the ASAE Board of Directors, chairing the ASAE Fellows Committee and ASAE Research Committee, and co-chairing the CESSE annual conference committee. She was selected as an ASAE Fellow, a designation bestowed on fewer than 1% of ASAE members, earned her Certified Association Executive (CAE), and is an ICF Associate Certified Coach. Elena received her doctorate degree from Rutgers University in Social Psychology. Elena uses she/her/hers pronouns.