Melissa Golden is the Chief External Affairs Officer for Points of Light Institute. She joins our team from Teach For All Network, where she has served as senior managing director for development and marketing resources. In this capacity, she has supported social entrepreneurs around the world to develop the Teach For America model in their countries.

Prior to this, Golden served as vice president of marketing and communications for Teach For America for 8 years, where she honed the organization’s brand identity and positioning, and built and managed the national marketing and communications team in a fast-growing, 1,200-person, $110 million non-profit organization. She also served on the national management team and the marketing leadership team to set vision, direction, goals and optimal structure for their marketing function and organization at-large.

Prior to joining Teach For America, Golden served as vice president of corporate communications for StarMedia Network, a Latin American Internet company. Previously, she launched a publicity department at Simon & Schuster and managed marketing and communications initiatives for leading consumer products companies at Bozell Inc.

Golden earned a master's degree in English education from Teachers College, Columbia University, and has taught middle and high school English in the New York City public school system. Golden now resides in Atlanta with her husband, Hutton Brown, and 3-year-old daughter, Lily.