Partner Bios

ELLEN RUDY
Managing Partner

Ellen Rudy has branding credentials that go back more than 25 years. She has created corporate identity and environmental design programs for such clients as Polaroid Corporation, W.R. Grace & Co., and Chartered Semiconductor. A veteran of the Boston advertising community, she served as Creative Director for Doerr Associates for 15 years prior to coming to California, where she served as VP of Creative for Halleck for eight years before joining The Hayden Group. Clients have included Metropolitan Life, AT&T Capital, Towers Perrin, Edify Corporation, Forbo Industries, Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems, Netscape, McKesson, ConAgra, Diageo, and The Stanford Shopping Center, as well as non-profit organizations and start-ups.

Ellen is a graduate of Carnegie-Mellon University. She serves as a coach/mentor for Astia (formerly The Women's Technology Cluster), an advisor for adsila.org, and is a member of Women in Consulting and former member of the Executive Forums Business Improvement Group (BIG).

An avid sailor, Ellen cruised the Maine Coast for many years, and now tackles San Francisco Bay on weekends. She lives in San Jose with her husband Jeff, and has 2 right-brain sons.

VICTORIA HAYDEN
Co-Founder, Senior Advisor

Victoria Hayden brings more than two decades of experience in marketing leadership-both in Fortune 500 Advertising Agencies and Corporations. Her experience as both consultant and client gives her a special ability to counsel clients with recommendations grounded in sound business strategy.

As VP Account Director at Ketchum and then J. Walter Thompson, NY, she managed all lines of business for Bell Atlantic (now Verizon) including consumer, B2B, Corporate and International. As VP Advertising for Northwest Airlines, she managed $90M of advertising all over the globe. As VP Account Director for J. Walter Thompson, SF, she managed Sprint's Corporate, B2B and International advertising. As VP of Marketing Communications for Pacific Bell (now AT&T), she oversaw a $70M budget.

Victoria serves on the Board of Directors of MicahsCall.org. She lives in Palo Alto with her son and their Golden Retriever. She loves the ocean, hiking, entertaining, and reading historical biographies and murder mysteries.