Elaine Hanson
Twenty years ago, Ms. Hanson began her career in the San Francisco Bay area working for a computer chip manufacturing and distribution company. She was soon hired by 3Com Corporation’s founders and Ethernet inventor, Mr. Robert Metcalfe, and as a very early employee has had the opportunity to be part of a technology which has evolved into the world’s most widely used standard. 3Com Corporation reached $874million in 2000.
During her tenure at 3Com, she held positions of increasing responsibility leading product development teams on many of 3Com’s Ethernet based product lines. She became Director of 3Com’s Advanced Network Group responsible for integration into top Fortune 500 accounts.
Ms. Hanson became General Manager of 3Com’s Canadian subsidiary, responsible for all sales, marketing and service of network products and systems. A $25million subsidiary at the time.
She is the founder of
the Oakville Sustainability Initiative,
a research based initiative whose mission is to support businesses,
government and
educational institutions with the tools necessary for Strategic
Sustainability Strategy implementation in business and
communities. She was named to the
Ivey Business School Sustainability Research Network in 2008 and
was invited to apply for the 2009 RBC Nomination for Women of Influence
award.
She was a founding member of The Natural Step Learning Network, one of
the largest sustainabiity ngo's in the world and is an associates for
TNS in Canada. She has been interviewed on Globe &
Mail’s ROB TV’s “Women in
Technology” and joined Oakville’s SPARK Board &
Advisory
Committee in 2004. She participates in the Oakville Advisory
Committee on Sustainability.
Bilingual and a native of Montreal, Ms. Hanson holds a degree from the University of Western Ontario and the University of Toronto, and was a visiting scholar at the Universite de Franche-Conte, Besancon, France. She is currently writing her Master's Thesis at the University of Waterloo focused on developing and applying sustainability models and indicators for businesses and municipalities.
She resides in Oakville with her husband and three children.
