Biography

Elaine Paul is the former CFO of Lyft (NASDAQ: LYFT) where she served as Chief Financial Officer from January 2022 through May 2023. Prior to her role at Lyft, Elaine was the CFO at Amazon Studios, a division of Amazon, from 2019-2021 and the CFO of digital streaming service Hulu from 2013-2019. Prior to Hulu, Elaine spent 22 years at The Walt Disney Company in Corporate Strategy and M&A. Elaine earned her MBA at Harvard Business School and graduated with a B.A. in Economics and History with Distinction from Stanford University.

Elaine joined Lyft as Chief Financial Officer in January, 2022. At Lyft Elaine oversaw all aspects of finance and accounting, treasury, investor relations, and M&A during a time of great macro, market, and sector specific turmoil. Prior to joining Lyft, Elaine served as the CFO of Amazon Studios where she oversaw portfolio and financial planning for Amazon’s global slate of original film and television programming and studio operations. Her team included financial planning and analysis, strategy, business intelligence, data science and advanced analytics in addition to production finance. Elaine’s team supported Amazon’s $8.5B acquisition of MGM Studios, Amazon’s second largest M&A transaction at that time. Prior to joining Amazon, Elaine served as CFO of Hulu from 2013-2019 during a time of pivotal change and disruption in the media and entertainment industry. In her role at Hulu, Elaine managed Hulu’s financial performance and led all growth and investment opportunities, leading Hulu’s financial planning and analysis, accounting, strategy and corporate development, and advanced analytics teams. Before Hulu, Elaine worked at The Walt Disney Company for 22 years, most recently as SVP of Corporate Strategy, Business Development and Technology where she led various acquisitions, new business initiatives, and strategic investments domestically and internationally. Early in her career, Elaine spent summers as a Summer Associate at McKinsey & Company and as a Summer Financial Analyst at Morgan Stanley & Company.

Elaine holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a B.A. in Economics and History with Distinction from Stanford University.

Elaine currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Marlborough, a college preparatory private school for girls grades 7 through 12 in Los Angeles, California. Elaine is involved with the Scouts of America (formerly Boy Scouts of America), Las Madrinas for Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles, and she also chairs various fundraising efforts for Stanford University and Harvard Business School.

Elaine is an avid outdoor enthusiast and has run both the Marine Corps and New City Marathons, and she has summited the highest peak in the continental United States, Mt. Whitney (elev. 14,505 ft.), and in Africa, Mt. Kilimanjaro (elev. 19,341 ft.). Elaine enjoys backpacking, hiking, skiing, standup paddle surfing, yoga and adventure travel.

Elaine is married to Darren Seidel, and they have three children ages 20, 18, and 15.