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Melinda Brown is a financial expert and Audit Committee Chairman, with over 40 years of accounting and financial experience with publicly traded global consumer product and luxury retail companies. She has significant leadership experience in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, integrations divestitures, capital market financings, global systems transformation, change management, enterprise risk management, governance, and project management.
Melinda was Senior Vice President and Controller of Tapestry, Inc. from September 2012 until her retirement in March 2019. During her tenure, she played a key role in all major initiatives, including the acquisition and integration of Kate Spade and Stuart Weitzman, major business and technology transformations, and a complete redesign of finance, control, and audit organizations. |
Melinda grew a high-performing organization with a deep bench and empowered culture, poised to drive a growing multi-brand business. Melinda’s leadership earned her and her team a meaningful seat at the leadership table.
Prior to Tapestry, Melinda spent 30 years with PepsiCo, Inc. in both their corporate office and the North America beverage segment, providing her the exposure and opportunity to proactively influence outcomes and build capabilities. She was a key member of the leadership team responsible for nearly 50 bottler acquisitions and integrations, the spin-offs of KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell, the bottler spin-off and re-acquisition, and the acquisitions and integrations of Gatorade, Quaker, and Tropicana.
As Controller of Pepsi’s $20 billion multi-brand North America Beverage segment, Melinda also served as the Business Lead for a multi-functional, multi-year North America SAP implementation, which, at the time, was the largest SAP roll-out ever and piloted their first enterprise risk management program. In Melinda’s final role, she led the company’s North America shared services centers, and developed PepsiCo’s global outsourcing strategy and business case, which was subsequently executed, and established the global finance productivity office.
Melinda began her career working in public accounting in 1977, and the FASB in 1980. She holds a Bachelor of Science and MBA, both from the University of Connecticut. Melinda is Chair of the audit committee and independent board member for Precision Biosciences, Inc., a Nasdaq traded company. She is an Emeritus Chair of the UCONN Foundation Board, also previously serving as the Audit Committee Chair and a member of their Executive and Finance Committees. She is a CPA and member of the AICPA and Connecticut Society of CPAs.
Prior to Tapestry, Melinda spent 30 years with PepsiCo, Inc. in both their corporate office and the North America beverage segment, providing her the exposure and opportunity to proactively influence outcomes and build capabilities. She was a key member of the leadership team responsible for nearly 50 bottler acquisitions and integrations, the spin-offs of KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell, the bottler spin-off and re-acquisition, and the acquisitions and integrations of Gatorade, Quaker, and Tropicana.
As Controller of Pepsi’s $20 billion multi-brand North America Beverage segment, Melinda also served as the Business Lead for a multi-functional, multi-year North America SAP implementation, which, at the time, was the largest SAP roll-out ever and piloted their first enterprise risk management program. In Melinda’s final role, she led the company’s North America shared services centers, and developed PepsiCo’s global outsourcing strategy and business case, which was subsequently executed, and established the global finance productivity office.
Melinda began her career working in public accounting in 1977, and the FASB in 1980. She holds a Bachelor of Science and MBA, both from the University of Connecticut. Melinda is Chair of the audit committee and independent board member for Precision Biosciences, Inc., a Nasdaq traded company. She is an Emeritus Chair of the UCONN Foundation Board, also previously serving as the Audit Committee Chair and a member of their Executive and Finance Committees. She is a CPA and member of the AICPA and Connecticut Society of CPAs.