Rubicon Global has named Elaine Richards as its new president, effective December 4, 2017. Elaine previously served as the executive vice president of business operations at Cars.com, where she was responsible for operationalizing the company’s long-term vision, overseeing the integration and onboarding strategies for new company acquisitions and leading the strategy to ensure alignment of Cars.com’s extensive operational touchpoints. Elaine also led the operations division, including customer support, account management and fulfillment.

“Elaine is a truly transformative leader,” said Nate Morris, Rubicon Global founder, chairman and CEO, in a statement. “She has challenged the status quo in the automobile and technology industries and now brings her strong leadership skills to Rubicon Global and the waste and recycling industry. Elaine’s extensive experience in the technology space and unparalleled track record in customer service, retention and growth make her the perfect addition to our executive leadership team as we continue to drive the circular economy to Main Street America.”

Prior to joining Cars.com, Richards held the position of vice president of strategic initiatives, network sales and operations for McClatchy Interactive, where she managed local sales across a publisher network of more than 30 daily newspapers and 100 websites nationwide.

“The timing of Elaine joining us couldn’t be better, given the many exciting developments at Rubicon,” said Morris in a statement. “We recently completed one fundraising round and are in the middle of another. SMB organic growth has increased 300 percent year-to-date (with reduced acquisition costs) and we expect to have close to 5,000 SMB customers by 2018. We successfully rolled out our smart cities proprietary technology in major cities, with a planned expansion in 2018. Finally, we have transformed our leadership, with the addition and promotion of seasoned leaders to improve our internal functional teams and enhance our customer experience and hauler relationships.”