Elena Grotto

Biography

Elena Grotto is an adjunct assistant professor of strategy at Booth, where she co-teaches Culture as a Competitive Business Advantage and Culture: A Competitive Business Advantage or Risk.

Additionally, she is an executive vice president and the group head of Edelman Chicago’s Business Transformation team, working in lockstep with senior decision makers as they stabilize the workforce during periods of significant change. In her work as a client leader, Elena manages projects that involve a merger-integration-spinoff, launching an evolved business strategy, or repairing a company’s reputation in the wake of a crisis.

In these transformation scenarios, Elena leads culture and change programs that impact all phases of the employee journey—from attraction and onboarding to leadership development and retention. She specializes in developing employee value propositions and managing holistic culture transformation programs, where she works with C-suite leaders to define the specific behaviors that will advance their business strategy.

In complement to her work at Edelman, Elena teaches, writes, and speaks regularly on emerging issues pertaining to business transformation and the evolved expectations of today’s workforce.  She is the co-author of the forthcoming book, I Don’t Just Work Here: The New Purpose of Workplace Culture—a field guide that helps managers, executives, and boards address some of the most anxiety-inducing workplace culture challenges. Release date is February 13, 2024 and distribution is through Penguin Random House.

Prior to joining Edelman, Elena worked for over a decade at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, during which she was part of the team managing company-wide internal and external communications and ensuring story integration across earned-owned-paid platforms. This included an organizational rebrand and building redesign. 
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Outside of work, Elena is involved in Chicago’s philanthropic community, serving as the Executive Council Co-Chair for Cara, an organization committed to eradicating poverty through workplace readiness. She lives in Chicago with her husband and daughter, Gigi.

Academic Areas

• Strategy and Leadership