Elaine Watt (she/her)

Elaine Watt (she/her) is Senior Director of Finance at Code for America. Previously she was Chief Financial Officer at Emerge America, which trains Democratic women to run for political office. Prior to that, she was Chief Financial Officer and a Managing Director at a large Northern California retreat center, supervising a $60M construction project rebuilding in the wake of the catastrophic Valley Fire, following fifteen years as Accounting Manager overseeing their $10M operating budget. Through these experiences, she refined the art of translating financial data into coherent narratives to support mission-driven decision making. She has a B.A. in Biochemistry and English from U.C. Berkeley, a Masters in International Environmental Policy from Tufts University, and a Masters in Economics from U.C. Berkeley. She also served as a Peace Corps volunteer teaching aquaculture to rural farmers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She enjoys dancing, writing, and organizing workshops for both. She’s occasionally been caught throwing down a slam poem, failed to avoid wrangling other poets as Lake County Poet Laureate, and is currently collaborating on a fantasy trilogy with her partner.