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    • Home
    • About Melissa
    • Services
    • Thought Leadership
    • Speaking Engagements
    • Harnessing Purpose Book
    • Signature Talks
  • Home
  • About Melissa
  • Services
  • Thought Leadership
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Harnessing Purpose Book
  • Signature Talks

Marketing with Purpose. Strategy with Impact.


Marketing & Growth Consultant

Fractional CMO 

Startup Advisor 

Board Director

Author - Speaker 

Transform Your Business with Melissa Fors Shackelford

Fractional Chief Marketing Officer

  • Provide executive-level marketing leadership without the full-time commitment
     
  • Build and scale marketing teams, infrastructure, and programs aligned to growth goals
     
  • Drive strategic marketing initiatives that accelerate revenue, brand equity, and market positioning

Marketing and Growth Consulting

  • Develop and execute go-to-market strategies that drive measurable results
     
  • Optimize marketing operations, campaigns, and customer engagement across channels
     
  • Identify new market opportunities and design data-driven growth roadmaps

Brand Strategy Consulting

  • Craft authentic brand positioning, messaging, and narrative frameworks
     
  • Lead brand refreshes and repositioning initiatives for evolving companies
     
  • Strengthen brand architecture to support mergers, acquisitions, and expansion

Startup Advising

  • Support early-stage companies with brand building, customer acquisition, and market entry strategies
     
  • Advise founders on aligning marketing with funding milestones and scaling efficiently
     
  • Mentor marketing teams to accelerate execution, foster innovation, and build sustainable growth engines

Workshops and Speaking Engagements


  • Inspire and energize your team with dynamic 1-hour keynotes on marketing leadership, purpose-driven growth, and brand storytelling
     
  • Dive deeper with 2-hour tactical marketing workshops designed to bridge strategy and execution
     
  • Lead powerful half-day Purpose Workshops to help organizations uncover, articulate, and activate their authentic brand purpose

Welcome to Melissa Fors Shackelford

About Melissa Fors Shackelford

I’m Melissa Fors Shackelford, a marketing strategist, advisor, and healthcare brand consultant based in Minneapolis. I help purpose-driven leaders and organizations clarify their voice, connect with the right audiences, and grow with integrity.

For more than 20 years, I’ve worked at the intersection of healthcare, brand strategy, and mission-focused marketing. I’ve led national campaigns, guided high-growth startups, and supported Fortune 100 healthcare brands—always with a focus on building connection and trust in complex, human systems.

Today, I run Shackelford Strategies, where I partner with founders, CMOs, and executive teams to bring clarity to growth. Whether I’m helping to shape a brand’s positioning, launching a new service, or advising on communications during rapid change, my work is always grounded in strategic insight and a deep respect for people and purpose.

Outside of work, I live in Minneapolis with my husband, our very opinionated Shih Tzu, and three amazing stepdaughters. I’ve lived abroad and still study Japanese—a language I continue to learn and love. I hold an MBA in Marketing from the University of St. Thomas and a BA from the University of Minnesota.

About Melissa Fors Shackelford

Seasoned Healthcare Marketing Executive

  

Melissa Fors Shackelford brings over 25 years of experience as a healthcare marketing executive and fractional marketing leader,  and consultant,  having held key roles at industry-leading organizations, including Optum, Hazelden Betty Ford, and Cigna’s Health Services Business, Evernorth.

Most recently, Melissa served as Senior Vice Pre

  

Melissa Fors Shackelford brings over 25 years of experience as a healthcare marketing executive and fractional marketing leader,  and consultant,  having held key roles at industry-leading organizations, including Optum, Hazelden Betty Ford, and Cigna’s Health Services Business, Evernorth.

Most recently, Melissa served as Senior Vice President of Marketing at LetsGetChecked, a global health technology company specializing in home health testing, virtual care, genetic sequencing, and medication delivery for diverse health and wellness conditions. In this role, she developed and executed comprehensive marketing strategies across the U.S. healthcare sector and international markets, contributing to the company's growth and visibility.

Previously, during her tenure at Cigna’s Evernorth Health Services, Melissa led strategic marketing for Express Scripts PBM and specialty pharmacy services, where she played a critical role in market expansion and customer engagement strategies. Her executive experience also includes serving as Vice President of Marketing at Hazelden Betty Ford, where she led marketing for the merger of two iconic behavioral health brands, directed and strategic marketing functions to elevate the organization’s mission and impact. Before joining Hazelden Betty Ford in 2013, Melissa spent six years at UnitedHealth Group's Optum in a variety of marketing leadership roles.


Fractional CMO, CEO/CMO Mentor and Advisor


Melissa is passionate about fostering innovation and supports emerging leaders through her work consulting, mentoring and advising marketing professionals and early-stage startups. She provides strategic guidance on go-to-market strategies, brand development, and navigating the complexities of the healthcare industry.  As a fractional mar


Melissa is passionate about fostering innovation and supports emerging leaders through her work consulting, mentoring and advising marketing professionals and early-stage startups. She provides strategic guidance on go-to-market strategies, brand development, and navigating the complexities of the healthcare industry.  As a fractional marketing executive and healthcare marketing consultant, Melissa helps brands achieve growth.  

Award Winning Thought Leader and Public Speaker

Award Winning Thought Leader and Public Speaker

  

Recognized as a thought leader in healthcare marketing, Melissa is a frequent speaker at industry conferences, a recurring guest on healthcare and marketing podcasts, and a prolific writer for leading publications, focusing on topics such as healthcare branding, inclusive marketing,  marketing ethics, and health equity. Her contribution

  

Recognized as a thought leader in healthcare marketing, Melissa is a frequent speaker at industry conferences, a recurring guest on healthcare and marketing podcasts, and a prolific writer for leading publications, focusing on topics such as healthcare branding, inclusive marketing,  marketing ethics, and health equity. Her contributions have significantly advanced the field and she was named one of the Top 50 Women in Healthcare in 2025, she earned her the prestigious Nonprofit Marketer of the Year award from the American Marketing Association in 2019 and the Women's Health Leadership TRUST Award in 2020.

We have worked with these brands

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Copyright © 2025 Melissa Fors Shackelford - All Rights Reserved.

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