The Board of Directors of Great Minds in STEM has selected Peter Mellado to serve as the organization’s Executive Director in 2025. His appointment coincides with the departure of Dr. Norman Fortenberry as CEO.
Peter has served Great Minds in STEM for over 20 years as a communications, content development, and marketing consultant through his firm, The Mellado Media Group. In these and other roles, he’s served as the chief narrator for GMiS charged with articulating and broadcasting the organization’s story and the stories of our award winners across an ever-changing distribution landscape. His most notable contributions have come as the director of the HENAAC Awards since 2010, and the quality and prestige that GMiS’s recognition programs have come to represent are due in no small part to his stewardship.
A skilled and seasoned writer and communicator, Peter has managed and refined Great Minds in STEM’s distinct aesthetic, image and voice over his tenure. He’s been intimately involved with the production of all Great Minds in STEM’s external publications, from marketing materials to white papers to Technica Magazine, the official magazine of Great Minds in STEM, which commenced publication in 1999. He has also managed and maintained the organization’s vast and growing library of digital content across our network of platforms, and he directed GMiS’s critically acclaimed 30th Anniversary Documentary in 2018.
In 2024 Peter served as Conference Director to oversee the execution of the 36th Annual GMiS Conference in Fort Worth, Texas, bringing his wealth of experience and management skills directing the awards programs and communications to the overall conference and its many facets and layers. He now brings those skills and that experience to leading the organization year-round.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, CA, Peter attended San Jose State University where he majored in History. He’s published two magazines targeting the Latino community, and he’s an award-winning screenwriter with multiple shorts, mini-documentaries and live-streamed content to his credit.
GMiS thanks Dr. Fortenberry for his time as CEO and looks forward to Peter Mellado’s leadership in 2025.
