Melissa Graham is the Chief Financial Officer for a not-for-profit in Greenville, SC. Prior to her current role, the bulk of her career has been in finance and management. She had served as CFO in different business sectors, including higher education. She also worked for a not-for-profit for eight years consulting in areas of finance, process improvement, grant management, fundraising, marketing, strategic planning, economic development, project management, special studies and more. Melissa currently also teaches intermediate accounting classes for a local college.
Melissa attended Texas State University where she earned a B.S. in Applied Sociology and Business Management. She continued later to earn an Executive MBA in Strategic Leadership from the University of Tennessee Knoxville followed by a Master of Finance degree from Penn State.
Research Interest
Melissa is pursuing a DBA because the program will be invaluable in helping her achieve her goals to make meaningful impacts in both her industry and community. A DBA will provide her with the advanced tools and research skills needed for strategic planning and decision making and demonstrates the highest levels of commitment to continual learning, leadership excellence and professional development. In addition, Melissa is positioning herself to become a better educator. Melissa’s research areas of interest surround leadership and organizational change. Some focus areas are leadership and management in the non-profit organizations, legacy leadership, executive leadership and its impact on organizational efficiency, core competencies of leadership and management functions in higher ed, change management in higher education, organizational culture and change, and more.