Episode17: Melinda Yee Franklin, JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Career paths and fostering community engagement with a JPMorgan Chase Leader

 

With a deep history in both the public and private sectors, Melinda Yee Franklin stepped into the role of community engagement and corporate responsibility executive for the west region at JPMorgan Chase in late 2020. In this conversation with Women on the Move’s Sam Saperstein, she talks about her career path and why she thinks the time is right for bold corporate community engagement. A longtime advocate for Asian Americans, Melinda also reminds us why we celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage month in May. 

 

Path from public to private sector

Malinda’s interest in government and public policy started when she landed a college internship in D.C. with her hometown congressman from California. She began her career at a telecommunications consulting firm, and in less than five years found herself working at the White House—with stops along the way in civil rights advocacy, at the Organization of Chinese Americans, the Democratic National Committee, and on Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign.

 

She soon took on a senior role at the U.S. Department of Commerce, where she stayed for several years. “At that point I had been in D.C. for about 10 years, and I thought, wow, it's been a ride,” she tells Sam. “And to me, it was time to come home back to California. And that's what I did.” Her next stop was in San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown’s office, where she stayed for four years. At that point, she says, she decided she wanted to explore the private sector.

 

Melinda began that part of her career at a startup called Meet China that became Meet World Trade, doing international B2B work. “And then I took time off because I had a child, and still continued consulting with clients that were both public and private sector,” she recalls. “There was an opportunity to be able to work with United Airlines as the head of corporate and government affairs for the west region. And I felt like, yeah, that's a good job for me because that combines the skillsets I've learned in the public sector. It was a really good fit for me at the time, and I stayed at United for 14 years.”

 

She hopes her career journey is inspiring for women looking to make a big career change. Her advice is to think about all the skills you’ve acquired from different roles. “I think when you package yourself, for lack of a better term, or create the narrative of your journey, just think about how that translates into other things that are related, but not necessarily the same,” she says.

 

Fostering community engagement at JPMorgan Chase

Melinda came to JPMorgan Chase in January to help launch the firm’s office of community engagement, which combines three vital functions within the corporate responsibility team: community re-investment, community partnerships, and the office of nonprofit engagement. She says the goal is to localize much of the office’s work of going into the communities and working with nonprofit leaders. “We’re really developing a narrative around what we're doing, how we're showing up into the community and working really closely with our philanthropy colleagues, as well as our government affairs colleagues, to really shine a light on the good work that JPMorgan Chase is doing,” she adds.

 

Post-pandemic, she says, she’s looking forward to helping rebuild small-business communities in cities such as San Francisco, where 50 to 60 percent of small businesses have disappeared since the start of the pandemic. “So how can we help to rebuild… these small businesses of color, women-owned businesses,” she says. “How can we really help them rise again?”