Founder and chief director of the Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum (GTNF), which launched in 2008, Elise Rasmussen is also the vice president of the Nicotine Resource Consortium. Rasmussen is co-founder and chairwoman of Women in Tobacco, an association for women working for or connected with the tobacco and nicotine industries. In April she was the first recipient of the Woman of Distinction Award presented by OWNiT, the Organization of Women in Nicotine and Tobacco. Rasmussen is the Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Tobacco Pipe Makers and Tobacco Blenders, one of the City of London’s historic livery companies. In this role, she was the second woman to hold the title of Master of the Company, and one of 20 women Masters in the City of London.

Rasmussen was given the Freedom of the City of London award in 2013. She is a member of the City Livery Club and serves on their executive council. Rasmussen is the Honorary Ward Clerk for Candlewick - the first American to hold this esteemed position.

In 2017, Rasmussen received a Voices of Freedom award from Forest, a prominent U.K.-based organization campaigning for adult nicotine consumer rights