Elena Imaretska

Elena Imaretska, Chief Innovation Officer of the Brave New Workshop, took the Think & Link stage in January 2018.

about the speaker
Elena Imaretska works at the intersection of arts, business and innovation. She is the Chief Innovation Officer for the corporate speaking and training business of the Brave New Workshop, the oldest satirical comedy and improv theater in the USA, located in the heart of Minneapolis. Elena spends her days managing programs that focus on the behaviors and mindset needed for employees and leaders to foster an open, inclusive, and nimble culture. She is a strategist, innovative thinker and life-long learner who focuses on maximizing the impact of BNW’s training programs and creating sustainable models for behavioral change. Elena and her team have the pleasure of working with interesting global companies including Cargill, General Mills, UnitedHealth Group, Target, Hilton, Microsoft, and Heineken to name a few. Elena is the co-author of The Innovative Mindset, Five Behaviors for Accelerating Breakthroughs.

Prior to joining the Brave New Workshop, Elena was raised in Bulgaria, studied in Germany, worked in Japan and received a BA degree at Colorado College and an MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management. It’s fair to say she’s been through the ringer on three continents and recognizes the value that new ideas, diversity and different points of view can bring to a company. Elena is also passionate about sustainability and innovating the way we do things to ensure social, economic and environmental prosperity. The Brave New Workshop itself is a self-funding arts organization, an innovative model that has worked for 55-plus years entertaining millions of people and launching the careers of many famous alumni, including the first two head writers of Saturday Night Live.