Melinda Scaringi

As a communicator focused on impact, Melinda delivers campaigns, strategy and research that make a difference. She brings deep knowledge across challenging  spaces, including public policy, equitable health, and the climate transition. People are at the centre of everything she does.

In a career that has spanned public service, not-for-profit and commercial roles, her focus has been on understanding people – through research – and moving people – through communications.

She routinely applies behaviour change approaches, IAP2 engagement frameworks, and user-experience techniques. The common thread is ensuring work is underpinned by a deep understanding of, or involvement from, the people it serves.

For Melinda, the work stops not once the pen is down, but once a person thinks or acts differently as a result.

Her experience includes all facets of communications, engagement and campaigns, with  a particular focus on making complexity accessible. This has led to a compressive portfolio of work for all levels of government – local, state and federal – in areas such as health, energy, waste and climate change. She also has delivered significant work marketing health and aged care services, B2B businesses, and in student recruitment.

She has led Ellis Jones’ statewide behaviour change campaigns with the Victorian Government to improve:

– gas heater safety

– solar rebate take-up

– the power saving bonus

– energy price comparisons

– disability worker registration.

Each of these campaigns includes a cohesive concept grounded in behaviour change theory, executed across traditional and digital channels. All are accessible to people from different cultural backgrounds, literacy-levels, ages and abilities, and all have delivered a step-change in awareness and action.

Prior to joining Ellis Jones in 2014, she worked for large and small not-for-profits, and for the Victorian public service. Melinda has also been a non-executive director on the board of the Yarra Energy Foundation since 2018.

She is degree qualified in media and communications, psychology and Italian from the University of Melbourne.