Melissa Ludwig

Senior Advisor

Melissa serves as a Senior Advisor for Salveson Stetson Group. She brings more than 30 years of retail store operations and merchandising experience with Macy’s Inc., including serving as Senior and Group Vice President from 2009 until her retirement in 2017. With direct P&L accountability, Melissa led businesses from $380M to $600M and high-performing, multidisciplinary organizations ranging in size from 1,300 to 3,000. She possesses deep expertise in strategic planning, operations, financial management, M&A integration, human capital management, organizational design, and the customer experience along with a record of building new capabilities, positioning businesses for responsible growth and sustained success, and delivering consistent results.

Melissa has been actively engaged in multiple for-profit and non-profit organizations as a board member, career advisor, investor and strategic consultant. She served as a board member for CSS Industries, Inc. (NYSE:CSS), a public consumer products company, before its successful sale. Currently, Melissa serves as Board Chair of the National Association for Corporate Directors (NACD) and Advisory Board of Drexel Raj and Kamla Governance Institute, and board member and committee chair of the Women in Leadership Initiative of the Forum for Executive Women.

As a member of Broad Street Angels, an angel investment community, Melissa is conducting due diligence to evaluate the investment viability of early-stage companies across the real estate, medical device, technology and healthcare industries. This work, along with Melissa’s passion for business innovation, has resulted in personal investments in the healthcare and technology space and an advisory board role, providing leadership team counsel and networking advancements. As a consultant and advisor, Melissa has also partnered with multiple fashion business entrepreneurs in the market developing organizational structuring, business planning and executive talent acquisition. She is a graduate of Moravian College.