Melissa Beach is Director of Training and Nonprofit Services for the San Antonio Area Foundation and in this role she administers the programs for organizations that serve the military community. In her previous role as grantmaker in Northern Virginia, she was responsible for coordinating an initiative designed to serve the military community in and around the District of Columbia and Northern Virginia. She has conducted regional and national research related to challenges facing the military community, awareness and cultural gaps between the military and civilian communities, and how funders can most effectively help organizations address the needs of this population and accelerate and enhance services for transitioning military personnel, wounded warriors, Veterans, and their families.
Melissa has substantial experience in the nonprofit management and community foundation fields. Over the past twenty years, she has managed and administered foundations, program initiatives, and grants and scholarship activities in Arizona, Mississippi, Japan, Northern Virginia, and now Texas. With a background in strategic planning, visioning, and mission development, she has done capacity building work with numerous nonprofit boards and organizations and has been convener and facilitator of collaborations between public and private foundations, private donors, corporations, and state policy makers (including helping to establish volunteer service centers in two states).
Melissa graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with an undergraduate degree in Spanish Literature from Pomona College. She was selected as one of fifty Truman Scholars in 1989 and is a Fellow of the Truman Scholar Institute and Internship program in Washington, DC. She subsequently earned her Masters of Policy and Public Administration at Mississippi State University, and a Certificate of Nonprofit Management from Duke University.
A military spouse with two teenage children and a Marine Corps husband who is currently stationed at Randolph Air Force Base, Melissa has remained actively involved as a volunteer with the military community and family readiness programs for over twenty years.