Melissa is an outside-the-box media expert who knows how to attract, engage and convert audiences. She specializes in content optimization, SEO, social strategy, product development and user experience to drive growth and revenue. With leadership roles at American City Business Journals, Cox Media Group and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, she’s led major digital transformations, using analytics and innovation to expand audience reach. A longtime leader in the Society for News Design, Melissa is passionate about storytelling, experimentation and sustainable news strategies.
Recent accomplishments:
As Senior Director of Audience Growth at American City Business Journals, Melissa oversaw digital strategies for social, search, newsletters, push alerts, apps, syndication and partnerships to drive engagement, visits and conversions. The Business Journals deliver a total audience of over 10 million people via 48 websites, 64 publications and more than 700 industry events each year.
Previously, as Director of Audience Engagement at Cox Media Group, Melissa built digital strategies across platforms and led the innovative team managing implementation. Before that, as Director of Analytics and Audience Insights at CMG, she led digital and business data analysis and reporting with a focus on actionable insights.
Melissa was also Director of Audience for Cox Media Group's digital startup Fans 1st Media — focused on engaging and strategically growing audience for emerging platforms and products including Rare, one of the fastest-growing shareable news sites in its time.
As an industry leader, she has been a volunteer, speaker and board member with the Society for News Design for more than 20 years.
Recent accomplishments:
- Doubled newsletter traffic through list maintenance, improved opt-ins, automations and redesigns to create tailored experiences for members and non-members
- Managed a cross-departmental initiative to improve site performance and revenue, including search-focused content strategies and on-page optimization
- Revamped social media strategy using AI, increasing volume, consistency, engagement and clicks by more than 50 percen
- Relaunched apps for 40 markets, introducing interactive digital editions and expanded push alerts for 1.5 million subscribers
- Led development of AI-powered newsroom tools, optimizing content, headlines and coverage planning to enhance engagement and performance
As Senior Director of Audience Growth at American City Business Journals, Melissa oversaw digital strategies for social, search, newsletters, push alerts, apps, syndication and partnerships to drive engagement, visits and conversions. The Business Journals deliver a total audience of over 10 million people via 48 websites, 64 publications and more than 700 industry events each year.
Previously, as Director of Audience Engagement at Cox Media Group, Melissa built digital strategies across platforms and led the innovative team managing implementation. Before that, as Director of Analytics and Audience Insights at CMG, she led digital and business data analysis and reporting with a focus on actionable insights.
Melissa was also Director of Audience for Cox Media Group's digital startup Fans 1st Media — focused on engaging and strategically growing audience for emerging platforms and products including Rare, one of the fastest-growing shareable news sites in its time.
As an industry leader, she has been a volunteer, speaker and board member with the Society for News Design for more than 20 years.