Melanie Schild is a seasoned nonprofit executive with more than 30 years of experience leading mission-driven organizations through strategic transformation, branding, and program innovation. She currently serves as CEO of The Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc. (AJLI), a global nonprofit comprised of 296 Junior Leagues in six countries and over 115,000 women civic leaders making a lasting impact in their communities.

Schild is the visionary behind The Junior’s League’s initiative Every Woman. All Things., an international platform created to confront and eliminate the mental overload of women “doing it all.” The initiative challenges the unrealistic expectations placed on women and provides space for shared solutions, support, and systemic change to eliminate some of the causes of mental overload related to caregiving, workplace demands and life in general.

Prior to AJLI, Schild served as CEO of Girl Scouts Heart of the South, launching leadership initiatives such as the Kaleidoscope National Leadership Conference on Leadership and Inclusion and WE Lead for Girl Scout volunteers and female caregivers. She also created the Stand Beside Her Movement, promoting collaboration and support among women and girls to end comparison and unnecessary competition. This campaign drew support from over 42 Girl Scout Councils as well as many cities that created effort to address women and girls’ organizations working together to make their communities better places for women and girls.

Earlier, as Executive Director of Kappa Delta Sorority and Foundation, Schild founded International Girls Day, National Women’s Friendship Month, and the Confidence Coalition, a national platform promoting confidence among women and girls that grew to engage national corporate support, and created a confidence platform on more than 165 college campuses as well as in many communities.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Tennessee and a master’s in organizational communication from the University of Denver, with additional graduate study at Northwestern University.

Schild has served in national leadership roles with the National Panhellenic Conference, the Fraternity Executives Association and has served on numerous boards both nationally and locally. She has been recognized among Memphis Woman Magazine’s “50 Women Who Make a Difference” and Memphis Business Journal’s Super Women in Business for her commitment to service and impact.