Melinda Leonardo, Ph.D.

Executive Search Consultant

AGB Search

Program Coordinator, AGB Institute for Leadership & Governance in Higher Education

Melinda Leonardo has a decade of experience assisting executive searches for higher education institutions including presidential and vice presidential searches for small, private colleges and universities.

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, shoot-out preparation for the consultant team, 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. During her tenure, the consultant team grew from 11 consultants to 33.

Over the last few years, Dr. Leonardo has completed searches for Wofford College, Guilford College, and Misericordia University while coordinating the firm’s professional development program and the new consultant orientation. She has been certified and serves AGB Search as the firm’s Predictive Index Analyst. In addition, Dr. Leonardo has built extensive networks with candidates in her work with the AGB Interim Search division.

Dr. Leonardo graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from Alma College (Alma, MI) and received the Master of Arts in Organizational Communication from George Mason University (Fairfax, VA). Her Ph.D. in Communication, Rhetoric, and Digital Media is focused on organizational conflict management, mediation training, and the transfer of trained skills is from North Carolina State University (Raleigh, NC).

A native of Midland, Michigan, Dr. Leonardo resides in Raleigh, NC with her husband and their three young sons.