Education

• Ph.D. in Public Administration and Public Policy, Auburn University
• Master in Public Administration, Auburn University Montgomery

Melissa has over 16 years of nonprofit and government experience. With broad experience in nonprofit administration, she has managed fundraising campaigns and events that engaged board members, mobilized volunteers, and dramatically increased giving. She is also an expert grant writer and manager, who has secured over 300 grants over the past 17 years.

She served as an Executive Director of a nonprofit called The Healing Place in Muscle Shoals, AL. The nonprofit provides grief support services and education to over 500 children and numerous families who have experienced the death of a loved one. The nonprofit serves Colbert, Lauderdale, and Franklin counties and is the only standalone grief center for children in Alabama. Prior to that position, she was the Director of Resource Development with the United Way of Northwest Alabama, in which she was in charge of fundraising that provided funding to 22 nonprofits in northwest Alabama. From 2007-2012, she served as a Grant Program Manager with the Alabama Department of Homeland Security. She managed homeland security grant programs for 31 counties, the Poarch Creek Indian Reservation, and 10 state agencies. In addition, she helped the department, as well as local first responders write federal grant proposals.