Haslam College of Business Melissa Centers

Melissa Centers is a board member, consultant and attorney who provides integrated strategic advice and support to boards of directors, founders and companies of all sizes. Before entering private practice, Centers was the senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary at State Auto Insurance, a $2 billion publicly traded insurance company that also operates a venture capital fund, State Auto Labs (where Centers was the legal advisor and served on the board of directors).

She has also held executive leadership and consulting roles in IT, operations, communications, crisis PR, marketing, human resources, government affairs and audit, as well as legal and compliance. Centers serves on the Knoxville Entrepreneur Center’s board of directors and is a writing enthusiast and college professor.