Elena Cryst brings eight years of program development and management experience to the Internet Observatory. She joined the Observatory in 2019 from the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR) where she was Director of Programs. In that role, she launched SIEPR's first-in-class Predoctoral Research Fellows program, a two year postbaccalaureate program in economics. She additionally built operational efficiences for SIEPR's numerous research programs. She is returning to FSI where she previously held roles as the Student Programs Manager, creating FSI's Student Programs, and as a research program associate for the Poverty, Violence and Governance Lab.

Elena received her BA with honors in International Relations and MA in Latin American Studies, both from Stanford University, and her MBA from the University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business.