It has been a very busy year for the idustry overall, and especially for Better.com Chief Product Officer Elana Knoller.

At this time last year, in addition to serving as chief of staff, Knoller was leading the cross-functional partnership with Ally Financial. Today, Knoller leads five teams at Better.com, two of which she founded herself. In September, Knoller launched the company’s first cross-functional experimentation-based growth team composed of product, design, engineers, paid acquisition, pricing and marketing teams. In January, Knoller built another team, adding the strategy and special operations team with a goal of developing cross-functional business lines focused on experiences for real estate agents. Finally, in February, Knoller took over the product and design teams, where she doubled down on the core business strategy, adding automation and education to the customer experience. Knoller models her ethos and displays her leadership by taking on roles and responsibilities to outer limits whenever there is a gap or a new need arises. Her method created a culture at Better.com where employees are encouraged to take initiative in their ideas specifically with what they feel would best benefit the company. As a mentor, Knoller is quick to be the first one to hold herself accountable and loves to share what she learned from her latest mistakes at meetings.