Melinda Leonardo has over 15 years of experience in executive search for higher education assisting colleges and universities in a broad array of searches, including presidential and vice-presidential searches. In January 2020, Dr. Leonardo was appointed Director of Interim Search at AGB Search.
Over the last few years, Dr. Leonardo has completed executive searches for:
In addition to her leadership role with AGB Interim Search and her continued executive search work, Dr. Leonardo also serves as the Coordinator of Programming for the AGB Institute for Leadership & Governance in Higher Education. The AGB Institute is a collaborative venture of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB), AGB Search, and the University at Albany (SUNY) School of Education and is designed to provide exceptional higher education leaders with a pathway to the presidency of four-year public research and comprehensive universities.
She continues to coordinate AGB Search’s new consultant orientation for a growing team of over 50 consultants. She has been certified and serves as one of the firm’s behavioral assessment analysts.
In her previous role as Director of Consulting Services with Academic Search, Inc., Dr. Leonardo was responsible for the firm’s marketing initiatives from initial prospective client contact, proposal submission in response to client requests, and preparation of the consultant team for face-to-face pitch presentations, to final negotiations of the award of a new search. In addition, Dr. Leonardo worked closely with the consultant team training new consultants on the critical stages of the search process.
Dr. Leonardo graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from Alma College (Alma, MI) and received a Master of Arts in Organizational Communication from George Mason University. Her Ph.D. is from North Carolina State University.
