Melanie Barstad ’75

Melanie Barstad ’75, a graduate in English, served as President, Women’s Health, and Co-Chair of Johnson & Johnson’s award-winning global Women’s Leadership Initiative, prior to her retirement in 2009 after a 23-year career with the company. Her roles with J&J included President, Acute Care for Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems, Inc. and as General manager and director of marketing for the Vascular Access area of Johnson & Johnson Ethicon Endo Surgery. Ms. Barstad currently serves on the CINTAS Board of Directors where she is on both the Nominating and Governance Committee and Compensation Committee. She has volunteered as a Blue & Gold Officer for the U.S. Naval Academy, was honored in AGENDA Compensation 100 and listed in Europe’s Global Board Ready Women’s Initiative. She also was co-chair of the Coalition to Protect America’s Health Care and was a former board member of the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) Foundation, JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Committee and Muhlenberg hospital. She recently served on the Auburn University Foundation Board as a member of the Investment and Admin and Finance Committee and is past chair of the Directorship Committee. She was the founding president of Auburn’s College of Liberal Arts’ Women’s Leadership Institute’s Advisory Council, and is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council for Liberal Arts and a Life Member of the Auburn Alumni Association. She lives with husband, Paul, in Westlake, Texas.

In Her Words

“I’m quite honored to be in the company of the people who have received it in the past; I’m not sure how I got in their company, honestly. I’ve had the opportunity to sit on the Auburn Foundation board and several of the past winners are people I hold in high regard. Auburn helped me define my life, and it set me on a path to achieve what I’ve accomplished professionally.”