Melissa is a transactional attorney with more than 20 years of experience advising domestic and international companies on mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, and strategic business matters. With experience as both a law firm partner and chief legal officer, she brings a practical, business-first approach to serving clients.

Melissa is currently a partner and chief legal officer at Vanta Global, a private investment fund focused on improving lives globally through education, training, and workforce development. She was formerly Associate General Counsel at Vanta Education, Inc., an international education conglomerate owned by Apollo Global Management and The Vistria Group, where she managed the sale of multiple international subsidiaries and advised on cross-border mergers and acquisitions, finance, and legal compliance. Prior to Vanta Education, Melissa served as Vice President, Legal and Corporate Affairs at Encore Capital Group, Inc., a publicly traded financial services company, where she led an international legal team supporting mergers and acquisitions, securities, corporate governance, and transactional matters across subsidiaries and joint ventures in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. Earlier in her career, Melissa was a partner at both Jenner & Block LLP and Honigman LLP, where she represented public and private companies in mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, joint ventures, securities offerings, and restructurings, and served as outside general counsel to closely held businesses and private equity portfolio companies.

Melissa is based in Phoenix, Arizona, where she lives with her husband, son, and two dogs. Outside of work, she can be found reading, baking or cheering on her son’s baseball team.