Melinda Church

Melinda Church co-leads the Strategic Communications practice area. Her clients span higher education, academic medicine and healthcare, arts and culture, independent schools, and the social sector. Since joining GG+A, she has partnered with more than four dozen clients to accelerate their mission-driven goals, grow their philanthropic support, and elevate their reputation. Her work with clients includes philanthropic priority setting; case and proposal development; organizational structures, development, and planning; issue mitigation; and new leader coaching; among other activities.  

Before joining GG+A as Senior Vice President in 2016, Melinda served in numerous leadership positions in higher education. Her 25 years of experience in communications and marketing includes senior leadership roles at the University of Virginia and The Ohio State University, among other colleges and universities. At U.Va., she worked for President John Casteen during public higher education’s first billion-dollar campaign. Much of her work there involved institutional and executive positioning, speech writing, and case and proposal writing.  

As Vice President of University Communications and Marketing at Ohio State, Melinda oversaw the full range of marketing, branding, communications, and public relations functions. She developed a unified visual identity to strengthen national brand reputation, led communications strategy for all corporate affinity partnerships, and created metrics for guiding her team’s efforts and reporting to the Board. As Vice President, Advancement Integration and Communications, she worked with deans and others to develop concepts, white papers, and proposals for eight- and nine-figure gifts; create optimal structures for fundraising communications across the institution; and conceive engaging events for volunteer leaders. Melinda served as Executive Officer to the President of Ohio State, leading the operations of the President’s Office, special events, the University Residence, and executive communications. To maximize the effectiveness of the University’s senior leadership team, she developed and led a new approach to planning and staging the implementation of major institution-wide initiatives. She planned international travel to grow higher education and business partnerships, and she served as a University delegate throughout China, Turkey, India, Iceland, Europe, and the United Kingdom. She conceived and executed the 2012 opening events for Ohio State’s Gateway Office in Mumbai.  

Melinda has served in philanthropic and alumni communications roles at Washington and Lee University and Virginia Military Institute. She taught expository writing at Harford County Community College. Prior to her work in higher education, she was managing editor of Indiana Business magazine. Melinda has edited and designed several academic and general-audience books. She is an award-winning writer, artist, designer, and silversmith.  

Melinda holds a master’s degree in journalism from Indiana University and a bachelor’s degree in English (creative writing) from the University of Washington.