Melissa Dyrdahl is a fellow at Stanford's Distinguished Careers Institute since 2018.

Career

In the early 1980s, Dyrdahl started her career working for a small

ad agency An advertising agency, often referred to as a creative agency or an ad agency, is a business dedicated to creating, planning, and handling advertising and sometimes other forms of promotion and marketing for its clients. An ad agency is generally ...

. Dyrdahl conceived, designed and launched Bring Light, to connect donors and charities for more informed and effective online fundraising. Bring Light was acquired in 2011 by

Rally.org Rally.org is an American social online fundraising platform for use by a wide range of individuals and organizations. It allows users to set up their own fundraising page, through which supporters can find information about their campaigns and ma ...

. Dyrdahl was the President and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of Ella Health, a woman's health provider based in San Francisco, CA but expanded nationally.

Nonprofit, Volunteer, and Honorary Positions

Dyrdahl was the chair of the board of directors for the Humane Society Silicon Valley.

Awards and honors

In May 2004, Dyrdahl was named "Best Marketing Executive" by the American Business Awards. She is also a recipient of the

YWCA The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swi ...

Tribute to Women in Industry award and is an active mentor, was named one of San Jose's Distinguished Women in Business, and was named one of the "2010 Women of Influence" in Silicon Valley Dyrdahl is used extensively as an example of a "New Radical" in

Julia Moulden Julia Moulden is a Canadian author, speaker, speechwriter and communications consultant who is based in Toronto, Ontario. She has published three books and has written and been featured in several periodicals, newspapers and other media. Career Jul ...

's book 'We Are the New Radicals: A Manifesto for Reinventing Yourself and Saving the World'. In 2013, Dyrdahl was inducted into the East Side Union High School District Education Foundation Thomas P. Ryan Hall of Fame established to honor the outstanding achievements of graduates of East Side Union High School. Other inductees include Yahoo Founder

Jerry Yang Jerry Chih-Yuan Yang (born November 6, 1968) is a Taiwanese-American billionaire computer programmer, internet entrepreneur, and venture capitalist. He is the co-founder and former CEO of Yahoo! Inc. As of February 2022, Yang has a net worth ...

, U.S. Congressman

Mike Honda Michael Makoto "Mike" Honda (born June 27, 1941) is an American politician and former educator. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in Congress from 2001 to 2017. Initially involved in education in California, he first became active in ...

, and former NFL quarterback

Jim Plunkett James William Plunkett (born December 5, 1947) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for sixteen seasons. He achieved his greatest professional success during his final eight seasons with the ...

References

External links

Ella Health
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dyrdahl, Melissa Living people San Jose State University people American women chief executives American health care chief executives Year of birth missing (living people)