Melissa Watkins joined the Chancellor's Office as assistant vice chancellor for Systemwide Advancement in the Division of External Relations and Communications in April 2024.

As assistant vice chancellor, Melissa provides strategic leadership for the 23 universities of the CSU system by encouraging systemwide best practices, performance benchmarking, accountability standards and professional development. She also serves as an officer of the California State University Foundation.

Melissa has more than 15 years of nonprofit development experience directing significant, major and principal-level gift efforts and managing development staff using performance-driven metric standards in capital campaigns, principal and major gifts and annual giving programs. Most recently, she served as associate vice president for development and major gifts at Loyola Marymount University. She also has held leadership roles on University Advancement teams at Cal Poly Pomona and CSU Bakersfield. She currently is a cabinet member and volunteer for the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) District VII, and she serves on committees on diversity, equity and inclusion and belonging.

Prior to working in higher education advancement, Melissa also worked with CCS Fundraising as a consultant assisting nonprofits across the U.S. with comprehensive campaign efforts. She also worked with Detroit-based Gleaners Community Food Bank, where she supported development efforts to tackle food insecurity.

Melissa holds a bachelor's degree in organizational administration from Central Michigan University and a master's degree in business administration from Wayne State University.