Announcing Internal Leadership Promotions at Overdeck Family Foundation

Today, we’re excited to announce two internal leadership elevations on the program team at Overdeck Family Foundation. As an organization that emphasizes learning and growth and is committed to dedicating both time and financial resources to supporting employees in their career development, we’re excited to put our talent philosophy into action and elevate two strong team members into leadership roles.

Melanie Dukes, previously Senior Program Officer, Innovative Schools, has been named Associate Program Director, K-9 Education, and Carly Roberts, previously Senior Program Officer, Early Impact, has been named Associate Program Director, Out-of-School Learning.

In these newly created roles, Melanie and Carly will work together to jointly lead the program team by managing the in-school (Exceptional Educators and Innovative Schools) and out-of-school (Early Impact and Inspired Minds) investment portfolios respectively. As leaders of our investing team, they will be the linchpins for developing portfolio strategies, supporting portfolio teams in sourcing and diligencing funding opportunities with catalytic potential, and providing capacity building support for our multi-year investments. 

The Associate Program Directors will also work together to coordinate workflow and decision-making, ensuring that our team is making the most high impact investments possible, and will represent program voice at cross-functional leadership meetings. Additionally, they will manage a select number of high impact grantees, acting as strategic advisors, leadership coaches, and board members if appropriate. 

We believe Melanie and Carly’s complementary skills of social sector experience and business sensibilities will ensure that our Foundation is making smart investments, taking risks, and pivoting as needed, while helping us achieve our ambition for program vision and leadership. Their promotions ensure two program voices at the leadership level, representing each of the portfolios with full understanding and context of the work, something we lacked in our previous organizational structure. 

During her first 10 months at the Foundation, Melanie has impressed us with her results orientation, strategic thinking, business sensibilities, and understanding of what it takes for organizations to grow and scale efficiently and successfully. Melanie has over 15 years of experience leading education initiatives, building innovative programs, and using technology, data, and analytics to generate new solutions to complex problems. Prior to joining our team, Melanie worked at 2U, Inc. as a Director in the technology department to support online learning for universities, and at Relay GSE, KIPP NYC, MLT (Management Leadership for Tomorrow), Morgan Stanley, and General Mills. 

Carly has been with Overdeck Family Foundation since 2014, which gives her a unique perspective on the culture of our organization and how our goals have evolved over time. She has built a strong and high impact early childhood portfolio and has demonstrated exceptional management, leadership, and coaching skills, as well as a deep knowledge of grantmaking and philanthropy. Carly has worked in education throughout her career and in her graduate studies, with experience spanning direct impact, research, and policy. She coordinated comprehensive services for children and families in an under-resourced neighborhood in Washington, D.C. and later held consultative roles for school districts, Head Start research, Robin Hood Foundation, and the Newark Trust for Education.

Please join us in congratulating Melanie and Carly on their new roles. We are excited to work together to continue advancing the collective Overdeck Family Foundation vision of unlocking every child’s potential.