Melissa Ward

Innovation Impact Catalyst
[email protected]

Office: 541-713-2038

Profile Field Tabs

Melissa joined the Advantage team as Innovation Impact Catalyst in August 2022. She was previously the Head of Initiatives and Partnerships for Bloomington, Indiana’s center of coworking and entrepreneurship – The Mill, where she built programs linking startup founders, angel investors, remote workers, and the regional tech ecosystem. Her work covered a broad spectrum including launching a code school, administering a new member-managed capital fund, and creating a remote worker attraction program.

Also brining extensive higher education experience to the team, Melissa has worked at multiple Big 10 universities. She tripled student enrollment at Indiana University’s School of Global and International Studies in less than three years, led pre-college STEM camps, and she launched a living-learning center and other student life initiates. She holds a MS degree in Rural Sociology from Penn State University and BS in Civil Engineering from Michigan Tech University.