Elyssa West

Elyssa West honed her marketing expertise at some of the world’s leading agencies — Digitas, Arnold Worldwide, and Carat — where she learned to understand business outcomes, not just hiring metrics. That perspective shaped her approach to recruiting and ultimately led her to found The Talent Group in 2007. Today, The Talent Group partners with both nonprofit and for-profit organizations to identify and attract high-impact leadership talent.

Over the past 18+ years, Elyssa has successfully placed leaders from Senior Manager to C-suite across a wide range of functions and industries. She takes pride not in volume, but in longevity: her placements average more than four years of tenure, well above the industry average. Her philosophy is simple — great recruiting starts with deeply understanding the business itself. Before contacting a single candidate, Elyssa invests the time to understand each client’s challenges, leadership dynamics, culture, and long-term goals so she can deliver leaders who create lasting impact.

Over time, Elyssa’s work naturally expanded into mission-driven and nonprofit organizations, particularly those connected to healthcare advocacy, disease-specific patient communities, education, and social impact initiatives. Through her work placing senior leaders within healthcare advocacy organizations and nonprofits, she developed a deep appreciation for mission-driven leadership and the importance of aligning talent with organizational purpose. She is especially passionate about helping organizations identify leaders who can balance empathy, vision, operational excellence, and sustainable growth.

Because of her work within nonprofits and the patient advocacy ecosystem, Elyssa was invited to join Top Echelon’s National Mission Driven Practice. Her nonprofit work spans executive leadership, board and CEO succession planning, fundraising leadership, marketing and communications, and operational leadership searches.

Outside of work, Elyssa is a passionate dog fosterer and rescue advocate. She loves watching dogs come into her home unsure of the world and leave with families who adore them. Most recently, she rescued a dog while on vacation in Mexico, flew him back to Boston, and helped him find an incredible forever family. For Elyssa, fostering dogs and recruiting for meaningful missions share something important in common: both are about creating life-changing connections.