Mel Grau

Mel Grau is the director of program management at The Poynter Institute. Mel was formerly the senior product specialist, focusing on Poynter’s training experiences and newsletters. She also edited The Cohort, Poynter’s biweekly newsletter for women in media, and has taught at Poynter’s Leadership Academy for Women in Media.

She is known for her work on expanding parental leave in journalism, her commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, and her video storytelling. Grau is also a Certified Scrum Product Owner, from Scrum Alliance, and was selected for the News Product Alliance’s inaugural mentorship program in 2022-23.

Grau graduated from the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2013. She spent five years in business and marketing roles outside of the journalism industry before taking her audience-centric approach to Poynter. She lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, with her husband, stepson and husky.