Elaine Ubakanma

Vice President of Human Resources Elaine Ubakanma, has been with H. J. Russell & Company since 1989. During her tenure with Russell, she served as an administrative assistant on the auditing, risk management, finance and human resources teams. Once finding her true passion in human resources, she became our HR Administrator, HR Manager, and Director of Human Resources before taking on her current position.

Elaine provides leadership as a strategic business partner, change agent and champion, coach, as well as training and development counselor for the company’s senior leaders, managers and supervisors. She continues to focus on making sure employees have a voice, ensuring they are not just listened to but that their needs are also met. In addition, she works with external business partners to ensure that those relationships help Russell contain its benefits costs, streamline processes and procedures, as well as improve employees’ value-added benefits, systems solutions and improvements.

Elaine holds a Professional in Human Resources (PHR) and Society for Human Resource Management Certified Professional (SHRM-CP) designations. She is a member of the Society for Human Resources (SHRM), World Employee Benefits (WEB-Atlanta), and the National Association of African Americans in Human Resources (NAAAHR).