Melinda Conklin

About Melinda

Melinda Conklin serves as manager of program design, impact, and implementation at the R Street Institute, where she helps coordinate impact strategies, streamline project planning, and support effective, on-budget execution of programs across the organization.

Prior to joining R Street, Melinda was a branch manager with a large regional bank. There, she oversaw staff training and development; ensured adherence to federal, state, and local compliance regulations; and provided consumer lending and mortgage services, including underwriting and approvals. Before transitioning into banking, she taught secondary mathematics at a school for at-risk teens, where she contributed to curriculum development for accreditation.

Melinda holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education with a minor in mathematics from Keystone College in northeastern Pennsylvania.

She resides in upstate New York with her husband, four children, two English Mastiffs named Bane and Odin, and a cat named Oz. In addition to her work at R Street, Melinda owns and operates a small coffee shop and general store that serves her local community from spring through fall.