Melinda Church

Melinda Church leads the Strategic Communications practice for Grenzebach Glier and Associates (GG+A).  She is accomplished in accelerating the mission of others by growing revenue and positioning of organizations and large-scale change initiatives.

Since joining GG+A, she has partnered with nearly 100 clients to accelerate their mission-driven goals, grow their philanthropic support, and elevate their reputation. Her work 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 in 2016, Melinda served in numerous leadership positions in higher education 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 the University’s first unified visual identity, led communications strategy for corporate affinity partnerships that generated more than $500 million, and led successful mitigation strategies for issues that presented significant challenges to institutional reputation. 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 science and health journalism from Indiana University and a bachelor’s degree in English (creative writing) from the University of Washington.

Clients:

• Albright College
• American Association for the Advancement of Science
• American University
• Art Institute of Chicago
• Bryn Mawr School
• Bucknell University
• Canadian Institute for Advanced Research
• Carnegie Mellon University
• Charlotte Latin School
• Chicago Urban League
• Cincinnati Museum Center
• Colgate University
• Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
• Columbus Academy
• The Columbus Foundation
• Columbus Ideas
• Curtis Institute of Music
• Dartmouth College
• Doheny Eye Institute
• Emory University
• Florida Atlantic University
• George Fox University
• Germantown Friends School
• Greenhill School
• Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
• Hawai'i Pacific University
• Hobart and William Smith Colleges
• Hood College
• Hope College
• Institute of Ophthalmology Basel
• International School of Indiana
• Johns Hopkins University
• Kenyon College
• The Kinkaid School
• King’s College London
• Knox College
• Kutztown University of Pennsylvania
• Los Angeles Master Chorale
• Louisiana State University
• Loyola University Maryland
• Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health
• Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago
• Lyric Opera of Chicago
• McGill University
• Mount Allison University
• National Cathedral School
• Barack Obama Foundation
• The Ohio State University
• The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
• Oregon State University
• The Pennsylvania State University
• Polytechnic School
• Pomona College
• Pratt Institute
• Purdue University
• Rodale Institute
• Rush University Medical Center
• San Francisco Conservatory of Music
• Sarasota Orchestra
• Sheppard Pratt
• Siemer Institute for Family Stability
• Simon Fraser University
• Smithsonian Institution
• Tecnológico de Monterrey
• Temple University College of Public Health
• The Trust for Public Land
• Tuerk House
• The University of British Columbia
• University of Calgary
• University of California, Berkeley, School of Law
• University of Cambridge
• University of Chicago Medicine
• University of Dayton
• University of Denver
• University of Kansas Foundation
• University of Maryland Medical Center
• University of Massachusetts Amherst
• The University of Melbourne Faculty of Medicine Dentistry and Health Sciences
• University of Missouri
• The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
• University of Ottawa
• University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
• University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing
• The University of Queensland
• University of Rochester
• University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
• The University of Toledo
• University of Toronto
• University of Toronto Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering
• University of Toronto Faculty of Arts & Science
• University of Toronto Scarborough
• University of Virginia
• University of Virginia Curry School of Education
• University of Virginia Darden School of Business
• University of Waterloo
• University of Wisconsin
• University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
• Upper Canada College
• Westtown School
• Yale Cancer Center