Melissa Bradley

Melissa L. Bradley is a tri-sector leader with more than 20 years of entrepreneurship, investment and leadership experience. Currently, she is a Professor of Practice at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University where she teaches impact investing, social entrepreneurship, P2P economies and innovation. Melissa also serves as a faculty advisor for the Social Venture Lab and provides client-driven experiential learning opportunities in the U.S. and abroad for students across the entire University. For the academic year 2015 Melissa received the Entrepreneurship Faculty Excellence Award and the Joseph F. LeMoine Award for Undergraduate and Graduate Teaching Excellence. Melissa has served as a Presidential Appointee under Presidents Clinton and Obama. Under Clinton, Melissa served as Financial Regulatory Affairs Fellow at the Department of Treasury, Office of Thrift Supervision, where she researched the impact of welfare reform and micro-enterprise lending on the financial industry and authored “IDA Strategy for Asset Accumulation” (available at http://www.ots.treas.gov). Under Obama, she served at the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) as Chief Strategy Officer and at the Department of Education, responsible for securing over $20M in public-private partnerships to support national service and My Brother’s Keeper (MBK). From 2014-15 Melissa served as Acting Director of the Social Innovation Fund (SIF), a White House Initiative, where she oversaw the development and implementation of the U.S. Government’s Pay for Success Program, worth over $14M annually. Melissa’s private sector experience began at the Student Loan Marketing Association (Sallie Mae) in Washington, DC. Other corporate experience includes her role as Director of Investment Services at CIT GAP Funds, which provides seed-stage equity investments in Virginia-based technology and life science companies, and as a Vice President at UBS in the Private Client Group, where she was responsible for developing and releasing online properties to increase wallet share from high net-worth clients, including a bond trading platform and a charitable giving portal. Melissa has also spent significant time in the social sector, including the launch of several social enterprises – for profit and nonprofit. Melissa founded and served as managing director of New Capitalist, an organization that leverages human, financial and social capital to create economically profitable and sustainable individuals, businesses, and communities. In this role, she facilitated over $20 million in venture capital transactions for seed stage companies, generated an average of 20 percent return on behalf of investors, and created proprietary investment vehicles instrumental in capital sourcing for minority-owned firms. She is also founder of The Entrepreneurial Development Institute (TEDI), an international, non-governmental organization, serving youth, ages 7 to 21, and their families, whose mission is to serve as a catalyst for permanent social change, economic development and community empowerment. Selected as an “Outstanding National Youth Entrepreneurship Program” by the Kauffman Foundation, TEDI is based in Washington, DC with 16 satellite offices throughout the United States and three international locations. As Founder she was responsible for the development of the TEDI curriculum and related materials including “Business Basics: A Young Entrepreneur’s Guide” and “A Young Entrepreneur’s Casebook.” For almost three years Melissa served as CEO of Tides, an international social enterprise that partners with donors, doers and investors to sustain social, racial, economic and environmental justice in the U.S. and beyond. In this role, Melissa managed over 120 staff in four locations with an annual budget over $20MM and $200MM AUM; led innovation through new products, services and partnerships that doubled donors in one year, including the introduction of impact investing opportunities; initiated customer service and business model improvements for client base of over 500 donors/activists; and generated the highest contributions since 2000 and produced break-even budget after 5 years of losses. She served as first professional CEO following the founder’s departure after 35 years. Melissa has served as a Senior Adviser to the Center for American Progress on environmental policy and investment strategies, as well as a regular consultant to the W.K. Kellogg Foundation on their Family Economic Security and Civic Engagement portfolios. She also served as a Senior Strategist for Green For All. In this role she created the Capital Access Program to support emerging minority entrepreneurs in the environmental sector and assisted in the creation of the Energy Efficiency Opportunity Fund and the Green Jobs Award Program. Melissa currently serves as a board member to Aeris and ideas42. She serves as an Advisor to the Credit Suisse New Markets Advisory board, Wallet AI, the Center for the Advancement of Social Enterprise (CASE) at Duke University, LGBTQ Center at Georgetown University and Founding Advisor to the Dell Center for Entrepreneurs. She is also Founder and Former Chair of the Georgetown Entrepreneurship Alliance and served as a board member on the Georgetown University Board of Governors for more than 10 years, as well as Founding Member, The Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership. Melissa's educational background includes graduation from Georgetown University in 1989 with a bachelor’s of science degree in Finance from the School of Business, and a master’s degree in Business Administration in Marketing from American University in 1993.

Education

• American University - M.B.A., Marketing
• Georgetown Univ. - B.S., Finance

Publications

Books (3) Melissa L. Bradley. Introduction to Media Investing For The Creative and Investment Communities. New York City: New Capitalist, 2004.

Melissa L. Bradley. A Young Entrepreneur’s Casebook. Washington, DC: The Entrepreneurial Development Institute (TEDI), 1995.

Melissa L. Bradley. Business Basics: A Young Entrepreneur’s Guide. Washington, DC: The Entrepreneurial Development Institute (TEDI), 1995.

Articles in Journals (2) Melissa L. Bradley. "Instructions Included: An Open Letter to Future Change Agents." National Civic Review, 86, 3 (1997): 245-249.

Melissa L. Bradley. "Reducing Recidivism through Entrepreneurship." State of Corrections, American Correctional Association (1996)

Articles in Conference/Workshop Proceedings (1) Melissa L. Bradley. "Individual Development Accounts (IDAs): Strategy for Asset Accumulation." , San Francisco, CA: Office of Thrift Supervision, 1998.