Melinda Yee Franklin is a thought leader and business strategist with a sustained track record of successfully enhancing corporate reputation to generate sales revenue and drive business development. She has cultivated a global network of high-level corporate, government, nonprofit, and civic leaders, which enable her to execute on business initiatives. Through her various leadership roles, she has demonstrated strong expertise in environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) issues; risk and crisis management; public policy; strategic development; and international affairs.

She is currently a founding partner at The MAP Collective, a business and strategic development consulting firm. From 2006 to 2020, she served as the managing director of corporate and government affairs for the western region for United Airlines. She was the company's lead advocate on corporate and policy issues in the region. She led legislative strategy on privacy, tax, and other critical business issues that impacted the aviation industry. She followed United with a two-year engagement at JPMorgan Chase & Co. as the executive director of community engagement in the west region.

Prior to United, she held executive positions at the Siena Group and Meet World Trade, where she advised organizations on strategic investment, marketing, human resources, and business development initiatives. She was also a White House presidential appointee in the Clinton administration and served as a senior international trade official with the city and county of San Francisco.

In 2019 and 2021, she was named one of the most influential women in Bay Area business by the San Francisco Business Times. She is a past board chair of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and the San Francisco Travel Association. She is currently on the boards of directors of the San Francisco Opera, the NACD Northern California Chapter, and the California Asian Chamber of Commerce.