As the former Director of Tourism and Economic Development, first at Moab, Utah and most recently, San Juan County, Utah, Elaine engaged in a huge collection of efforts to deliver tourism as economic development to an area with persistent poverty.  She consistently analyzed all financial data and identified visitor trends, tracked occupancy, average daily rates, transient room tax, and housing needs.  In addition, she developed and managed annual budgets for both tourism and economic development, enforced the annual licensing of county business and adherence to zoning ordinances, managed community reinvestment areas, and worked with all the public lands agencies in the region, securing over $5 Million in grants for the area.  Other projects included spearheading the San Juan County Housing Assessment and San Juan County Business Basecamp Summit, while increasing tourism tax revenues by over 20% annually for three years. Elaine’s expertise was recognized when she was appointed to both the Board of Directors of the Utah State Tourism Office and the Board of Directors of US Travel.  

• Utah Valley University Economic Development Coursework 
• Certificate, Local Economic Development
• Certificate in Sustainable Tourism, Global Sustainable Tourism Council