Anne Wittenborg
Marvin
“I'm a storyteller.”
Anne Wittenborg has been named to the Talent 100, Class of 2026, the annual award recognizing up to 100 leaders in each category of talent acquisition. Honorees are nominated by peers or found by committees that look for excellent work wherever it happens, then chosen for the depth of their craft and their impact on hiring. This is Anne's story.
For Anne Wittenborg, Director, Talent Acquisition + Employer Brand at Marvin, a career in talent acquisition began not through human resources, but through storytelling. Before entering the world of recruiting, she built her career in broadcast journalism, serving as a news director.
Journalism and recruiting may look like very different professions from the outside, but Anne quickly realized that the same core skill connects both worlds. “I’m a storyteller,” she says.
That passion for telling meaningful stories became the foundation for her move into employer branding, and from there her responsibilities expanded naturally into talent acquisition, where she now leads both employer brand and recruiting efforts. Helping organizations tell authentic stories about their culture, then connecting those stories with the right candidates, turned out to be the perfect career fit.
Recruiting Grows 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 around 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 there.
At the same time, artificial intelligence has dramatically improved recruiter efficiency, helping teams 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. In her view, AI is not replacing recruiters; it is removing repetitive work so recruiters can concentrate 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 single leader can stay on top of every new platform or innovation alone. Instead, organizations should empower the team members who are genuinely 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.
She also encourages talent leaders to build trusted communities outside their own organizations. As a member of the Talent Marketing Board, Anne 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 navigating every new trend alone.
Effective leadership, she adds, starts with understanding what motivates each individual on a team. Knowing what genuinely excites recruiters makes innovation feel like an opportunity rather than another item 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 the most successful talent organizations will balance technological advancement with continuous learning and strong collaboration. AI will keep transforming how recruiters work, but the teams that win 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 keep adapting no matter how quickly the landscape shifts.
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.
The Talent 100 exists to celebrate the people shaping the future of how the world hires, and few embody that better than Anne. We are honored to welcome Anne Wittenborg to the Talent 100, Class of 2026, and grateful for the experience, perspective, and craft they bring to this community. Congratulations, Anne. Welcome to the Talent 100.
About the Talent 100
The Talent 100 is an annual list spotlighting the leaders who push HR and talent acquisition forward, organized by Noon AI. Honorees are selected through peer nominations and independent selection committees. Selection is entirely merit-based, with no fees or pay-to-play requirements.
