Melissa Haley O'Leary is the Leadership Gifts Coordinator for the Eastern Region of the United States for World Neighbors, the international development organization which is spotlighted in "The World As Neighborhood," the Future Choices episode airing during month of July 2010.

 She joined World Neighbors in 2007. In July of 2009, Melissa led a group of donors on a two-week journey to observe and experience World Neighbors work in Kenya and Tanzania. She references this trip in her Future Choices interview.

As Leadership Gifts Coordinator for the eastern U.S., Melissa updates and visits World Neighbors supporters, makes presentations to groups and raises funds to support World Neighbors life-saving work.

Previously, Melissa managed individual giving at Community Care Network, a Cleveland-based human services organization; assisted with fundraising and public relations at the Cleveland International Program; and co-directed a national high school exchange program.   In addition, she taught elementary school in Brunei in Southeast Asia from 1992-1995, during which time she made several treks to remote villages in Indonesia and Malaysia.  
 
Melissa’s holds a Masters of Nonprofit Organizations (MNO) from Case Western Reserve University’s Mandel Center for Nonprofit Organizations/Weatherhead School of Management (2009) and a B.A. in Political Science/International Relations from Northwestern University (1989). 

Melissa lives in Bay Village, Ohio, with her husband Jim and their three sons.  In her free-time Melissa enjoys reading, walking, swimming and gardening.