Mel is the CEO, United Way of Southern Maryland, and has led for two decades in impact non-profit organizations, delivered social change events and informed social and governance change movements. From university teaching to location-based entertainment, court compliance, service design thinking and critical organizational governance analysis, he brings local-to-global experience from across business sectors to bear in the forging of partnerships, insights and solutions.
Mel has led in spaces such as Thread, Inc. in Baltimore, the YMCA Movement in Maryland and New Jersey, the Maryland Food Bank and Fuel Fund of Maryland. He began his professional career with The City of New York as a Confidential Investigator with the Civilian Complaint Review Board, then spent time in for-profit endeavors with the Walt Disney Co., WWFE, Inc., and Sega GameWorks LLC. A transition to governance, academia and thought leadership saw opportunities to work with FIFA, CONCACAF, the University of Stirling (UK) and Towson University, as well as curation of the first TEDxBaltimore in 2011. He earned degrees in Political Science and History from McDaniel College in 1996, minoring in French and Economics, and pursued a PhD from 2003-2008 focusing on sport and human rights while attending the University of Stirling, UK.
His foundation working with youth goes back to 1989 and eight summers of seasonally leading of a 300-participant municipal summer camp in his hometown of Willingboro New Jersey. Mel lives and loves with his wife Laurel, three children, and one rescued dog in Westminster, where he’s successfully campaigned to rid the public schools of the Confederate flag and worked to institute a citizen life component to homeroom reflective of his ignitebaltimore! talk in 2011.