Melissa Luna

Melissa Luna serves as Vice President of Site Success. In her role at GreenLight, she has prioritized and elevated the leadership of individuals most proximate to the issues at hand, including on the Selection Advisory Council, earning recognition from the Fund for Shared Insight as a best practice for grantmakers and funders.  Melissa has invested in the launch of four portfolio organizations in Boston, raised $12 million to date, and spearheaded GreenLight’s portfolio reinvestment strategy to meet our community’s greatest needs at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Along with directing GreenLight Boston, in her role as Vice President, Melissa manages and coaches other Executive Directors across the GreenLight network on their leadership, selection cycles, portfolio management, and fundraising. She is a member of the Management Team, which is responsible for setting organizational level priorities in support of meeting GreenLight’s strategy and high-level goals.

Prior to joining GreenLight, Melissa led programming and managed a national portfolio of grantees in the fields of women and politics, and sex trafficking at Swanee Hunt’s foundation. Melissa has more than two decades of experience in nonprofit management, strategic planning, and program evaluation. She launched programs focused on youth development, civic engagement, and broad systems change in the city of Boston during her 10-year tenure at Sociedad Latina. Melissa credits her passion for social justice and civic engagement to her years spent during her undergraduate studies serving in Boston’s communities as part of Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA). She currently serves on the advisory councils of two of GreenLight Boston’s portfolio organizations, the Women’s Foundation of Boston and on the board of PBHA. Melissa graduated cum laude with a concentration in Government from Harvard University and is an alumna of the Institute of Nonprofit Practice. She resides in Boston, calling the Hyde Park neighborhood home.