Anne Wittenborg

Anne Wittenborg

Director, Talent Acquisition + Employer Brand - Marvin

For Anne Wittenborg, a career in talent acquisition began not through human resources, but through storytelling.

Before entering the world of recruiting, Anne built her career in broadcast journalism, serving as a news director. While journalism and recruiting may seem like very different professions, she quickly realized the same core skill connected both worlds.

“I’m a storyteller,” Anne says.

That passion for telling meaningful stories became the foundation for her transition into employer branding. From there, her responsibilities expanded naturally into talent acquisition, where she now leads both employer brand and recruiting efforts.

For Anne, helping organizations tell authentic stories about their culture—and connecting those stories with the right candidates—became the perfect career fit.

Learning from Leaders Who Put People First

Throughout her career, Anne has been influenced by leaders who demonstrated that recruiting is ultimately about relationships.

One of the earliest people to leave a lasting impression was Anne Boarman, a former colleague at C.H. Robinson who now works at Apogee.

Rather than simply focusing on hiring metrics, Anne remembers Boarman for the way she connected with candidates.

“She leads with empathy and listening,” Anne says. “She has that spark about her. She’s just one of those people you meet who is instantly engaging.”

Another leader who influenced Anne was Elaine Carpino, whose guidance also helped shape her approach to recruiting and leadership.

These experiences reinforced a lesson Anne continues to carry throughout her own leadership journey: recruiting is at its best when people feel genuinely seen, heard, and valued.

Recruiting Has Become More Strategic

Over the past year, Anne has watched recruiting evolve far beyond its traditional transactional roots.

Rather than expecting recruiters to manage every part of the hiring process equally, organizations are beginning to specialize roles based on individual strengths and expertise.

“It’s become more about outcome owners,” she explains.

Instead of every recruiter performing every task, teams are identifying where individuals create the most value and allowing them to focus on those areas.

At the same time, artificial intelligence has dramatically improved recruiter efficiency.

Technology now helps recruiters spend less time chasing unresponsive candidates and more time connecting with qualified talent.

“We’re doing things now I never would have imagined,” Anne says.

For Anne, AI isn't replacing recruiters—it is removing repetitive work so recruiters can focus on building meaningful relationships with candidates.

Building Teams That Never Stop Learning

As technology continues evolving at an unprecedented pace, Anne believes continuous learning has become one of the most important responsibilities for talent leaders.

Her advice is simple: no one leader can stay on top of every new platform or innovation alone.

Instead, organizations should empower team members who are passionate about technology to become internal experts.

“Even if it’s delegating a person who is really your tech stack person, give them the runway to explore,” she says.

Anne also encourages talent leaders to build trusted communities outside their own organizations.

As a member of the Talent Marketing Board, she has seen firsthand how valuable peer networks can be when evaluating new technologies, sharing lessons learned, and avoiding common pitfalls.

Having trusted colleagues to ask questions like, Who has tried this? Is it worth it? What did you learn? allows leaders to make smarter decisions without having to navigate every new trend alone.

She also believes effective leadership starts with understanding what motivates each individual on your team.

Knowing what genuinely excites recruiters makes innovation feel like an opportunity rather than another task on an already full plate.

“If it’s something they’re passionate about,” Anne explains, “it doesn’t feel like extra work.”

Advice for Talent Leaders Heading into 2026

As recruiting continues to evolve, Anne believes successful talent organizations will balance technological advancement with continuous learning and strong collaboration.

AI will continue transforming how recruiters work, but organizations that succeed will be the ones that invest not only in new tools, but also in the people responsible for using them.

By empowering specialists, encouraging curiosity, building trusted peer networks, and understanding what motivates individual team members, talent leaders can create organizations that continue adapting no matter how quickly the landscape changes.

For Anne Wittenborg, recruiting has always been about telling meaningful stories.

Today, whether through employer branding, talent acquisition, or leadership, she continues helping organizations connect with people through authentic communication—proving that great recruiting starts with understanding people, one story at a time.