Melissa Fors Shackelford brings over 25 years of experience as a health care marketing executive, having held key roles at industry-leading organizations including Optum, Hazelden Betty Ford, and Cigna’s Health Services Business, Evernorth.
Melissa recently joined LetsGetChecked as Senior Vice President of Marketing, where she leads the development and execution of comprehensive marketing strategies across the US health care sector and international markets. LetsGetChecked is a global health care solutions company specializing in home health testing, virtual care, genetic sequencing, and medication delivery for diverse health and wellness conditions.
During her tenure at Cigna’s Evernorth Health Services, Melissa led strategic marketing for Express Scripts’ pharmacy benefit management and specialty pharmacy services, contributing significantly to market expansion and customer engagement strategies.
Melissa’s career highlights include her role as Vice President of Marketing at Hazelden Betty Ford, where she led strategic marketing functions. Before joining Hazelden Betty Ford in 2013, Melissa was at UnitedHealth Group’s Optum in several marketing leadership roles for six years.
Recognized as a thought leader in health care marketing, Melissa is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and a prolific writer for leading publications, focusing on topics such as health care branding and marketing ethics. Her contributions have significantly advanced the field and earned her the prestigious Nonprofit Marketer of the Year award from the American Marketing Association in 2019 and the Women’s Health Leadership TRUST Award in 2020.
Melissa holds an MBA in Marketing from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn., and a BA from the University of Minnesota. She actively contributes to the health care community as a member of the American Hospital Association’s Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development (SHSMD) editorial advisory board and serves on the boards of the Women’s Health Leadership TRUST and Asbury Communities, Inc., where she chairs the Governance and Nominations Committee.