Melissa Kullander

Melissa’s passion for running and a love of travel and adventure has been the fuel for her desire to stretch the boundaries of her personal and professional abilities. She simply states she loves to “Work Hard & Play Hard” to live to the fullest. Although she didn’t start running until her late 30’s, this native Arizona girl quickly went from local 5K fun runs to completing 49 marathons all over the world. She completed a Marathon on all 7 continents including, Comrades, the 56-mile Ultra Marathon in South Africa and, of course, Antarctica. She trained for 2 weeks at a running camp in Iten, Kenya, which is the home of many marathon world record holders. Melissa is recognized as an Iridium member of the Marathon Maniacs for completing 4 marathons in 23 days. She was also an Open Team rower with the Bair Island Aquatic Center in the San Francisco Bay area. Now at age 53, after 4 years of delays, Melissa has set her sights on completing her 50th marathon at the North Pole. By completing the North Pole Marathon in 2023, Melissa’s accomplishments will include achieving the “Grand Slam” of marathons (seven continents & the North Pole), a feat only about 150 people and 33 women have achieved. On the professional side, Melissa’s career spans more than three decades in Finance. She has worked for a number of companies, helping them efficiently and effectively manage their finance and operations, and guiding them as they scaled their businesses. She is currently the Vice President of Finance at Workday overseeing the financial planning & analysis team that is responsible for the decision support for the company’s Product & Technology organization. She has B.S. degree in Finance from Arizona State University and an MBA from “Thunderbird”, the #1 International School of Business in the U.S. Throughout her career in finance, she has enjoyed working and engaging with people from and located all over the world including managing global teams working in places like India, Poland, Malaysia, and the UK. Melissa’s ability to set goals, lead teams, commit herself and others to training regimens, and her ability to solve problems has created a resolve and perseverance in her where she can achieve whatever she sets out to do – whether that is helping a business succeed or achieving the Grand Slam of Marathons.