Melinda Hayes

Director of Finance

Melinda is the Director of Finance and a co-founder of Positive Change Via Me Inc. She is very
passionate about assisting today’s youth in becoming stable, educated, and productive adults that are
willing to give back to their communities. Melinda strongly believes mentoring programs gives children
another perspective, outside their homes, to guide them through their destination in life. Melinda is
currently married and has a son, a step-daughter, and three grandchildren. She was born in New York
and currently resides in Delaware.

Melinda currently works at Verizon, and has been there for over 31 years. She has held many positions
throughout her career such as an operator, maintenance administrator, and switching equipment
technician. She migrated into management in 2004, and is currently holding a position as a Principle
Engineer (Systems Engineer and Architect) in the Platform & Ecosystems Routing Design team.

While working for Verizon, Mrs. Hayes volunteered and served on the local board of an Employee
Resource Group named (CITE) Consortium of Information and Telecommunication Executives (501c)
formerly known as (TEAM) Telecommunication Executives of Associates and Managers for over 15
years. She has held several positions such as the Membership Chair. In this leadership role, she
increased membership by over 250%. She also represented the local chapter at the National level by
serving as a delegate as well as the National Registration Chairperson. She was responsible for handling
registration and issues for over 1500 conferees at the National Conference. Her last position was the
local Treasurer. She maintained the financial records for a period of four years with the highest integrity
and balanced the budgets year over year. Melinda was the recipient of the Local and National President
Award for her outstanding achievements to this organization.

Melinda currently serves as the Box Tops and the 2017 Quarter Auction Coordinator for the Sunnyside
Elementary PTO, located in Smyrna, Delaware. In the past, she has served as the team mom for the
Dover CR Raiders football team and the Dover Little League. She has also volunteered for Computers
for Youth as well the Food Bank of Delaware.

Mrs. Hayes was a teenage parent and was forced to become responsible before she was ready.
Realizing that this was a choice, she strives to educate teenagers on the consequences of having sex
prematurely. She is passionate about mentoring young ladies and men. Her goal for them is to live their
life making positive choices that will not throw them into adulthood before they are ready.
Mrs. Hayes holds an Associate in Accounting, and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management. She
graduated with a Master of Science in Information Systems with a concentration in Network Management,
in September 2014. In May 2017, she received a Certificate in Non-Profit Management from the
University of Delaware. She is currently pursuing and interest in Business Law, with hopes to enter
school in 2023.