About Us

Bobbie Jo Jenkins

Bobbie Jo Jenkins serves as the Senior Manager of Programs & Marketing for the Center for Executive Education at Belmont University. Bobbie Jo leads CEE marketing initiatives and manages the development, logistics and internal processes for custom development clients and the leadership development certificate programs. Bobbie Jo frequently serves as the voice of the center throughout the community, speaking at various business events and developing partnerships with other organizations.

Bobbie Jo received a Certificate in Facilitation from the Association of Talent Development and currently facilitates Communication and Myers-Briggs Type Indicator sessions. A proud ISFJ, she enjoys working with clients as they develop an awareness of their own communication style and the importance of understanding the needs of different personalities within a team.

Bobbie Jo hails from the great state of Mississippi, where she received her bachelor’s in communication and MBA from Mississippi State University. Bobbie Jo enjoys taking trips back to her hometown to visit her extended family and while there makes sure to get in lots of hugs with her nieces. In her free time, Bobbie Jo is very passionate about and active in her volunteer efforts within the community. She currently serves as Board Chair of Girls on the Run of Middle TN. Bobbie Jo loves to spend time with her husband and two dogs, traveling, and a quiet Sunday afternoon reading a book.

Chelsea Swindle

Chelsea serves as the Client Services Manager for the Center for Executive Education at Belmont University. In this role, Chelsea is responsible for coordinating the internal operations that help make all of the center’s programs run smoothly and successfully. Chelsea leads her team of client services staff with enthusiasm and optimism, and values an atmosphere of team spirit and continuous improvement.

Prior to stepping into this role, Chelsea was a vital member of the center’s staff, serving as a Program Manager of several programs that the center offers as open enrollment opportunities. Before joining the center, she worked for the American Cancer Society and the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association. Chelsea earned her undergraduate degree at Middle Tennessee State University and considers herself to be a lifelong learner, a trait that serves her well in the center’s atmosphere of learning.

Chelsea and her husband Isaac have a fun and energetic baby boy and as a family they enjoy attending local craft fairs and community events across the Middle Tennessee region. Chelsea also enjoys crafting, cooking, visiting her family in Pennsylvania and vacationing in Ocean City, New Jersey.

Dr. Melanie Lashlee Adams

Melanie is the Executive Director for the Center for Executive Education at Belmont University. In this role, she leads CEE’s team of facilitators, curriculum designers, and program staff in developing programs and instructing leaders within the center’s programs. She has experience in developing and teaching fully customized leadership development programs for Fortune 100 and 500 organizations and specializes in cultivating a connection between the topics she teaches and the strategic focus of those organizations. One of the main goals Melanie has for the participants of CEE’s sessions is that they are able to readily understand and apply new concepts, fully embracing the center’s motto of “learn it today, apply it tomorrow.”

Melanie also serves as CEE’s principal consultant, working directly with clients to design customized leadership development programs for local and national organizations. Her focus is assessing and understanding the needs of both the business and the leaders in those organizations, and then working to design programs that align to both the strategic and human sides of those organizations. In her work for CEE over the last several years, Melanie has also maintained an active teaching role in programs, delivering courses such as Leading Organizational Change, Personal and Organizational Communication, Conflict Management and Difficult Conversations, Coaching and Development for Optimal Performance, Building a Winning Team, Strategic Thinking, The Generations at Work, Emotional Intelligence, StrengthsBased Leadership, Critical Thinking and Decision Making, as well as many others.

Melanie holds a doctorate in organizational leadership from Vanderbilt University, a master’s degree in organizational communication from Murray State University, and a bachelor’s degree in organizational management from Tusculum University, and numerous professional certifications in the subject matter areas that she teaches. Away from work, Melanie has served on the Board of Directors at the Linden Waldorf School. She also loves to read and cook and looks forward to her family’s yearly vacation in Maine, where she spent her summers as a child. Melanie resides in West Nashville with her husband and their daughter, and their beloved Labrador retriever, Posey.

Laura Hyde

Laura Hyde is a Program Manager in the Center for Executive Education at Belmont University. Prior to joining the Center for Executive Education, Laura worked for United Way in Nashville and Quincy, IL, and for University of Illinois Extension as a Program Manager of Community & Economic Development Initiatives, including leadership development, research & evaluation and nonprofits. At the Center for Executive Education (Center), Laura manages the logistics and internal processes for a number of the Center’s programs and clients, as well as grows relationships with program participants and instructors. Additionally, she is an advocate for the Center throughout the community.

Laura is an ambitious project manager and facilitator with the goal of helping drive sales and create a positive image with an emphasis on integrity. She has a passion for empowering others, creating community, and continuous education. She believes maintaining and expanding one’s professional and personal development is increasingly important in today’s world, especially as it relates to organizations’ and employees’ goals to advance to a higher level of respect among peers and take responsibility in shaping the future.

Laura received her BA from Illinois College and MA from University of Illinois at Springfield. She is a member of the Association for Talent Development (ATD) in Middle Tennessee and has volunteered with Girls on the Run Nashville, Junior Achievement of Middle Tennessee and St. Jude. When not at work, Laura enjoys cooking, biking, golfing and spending time with friends exploring all that Nashville has to offer. Laura also loves to travel, fosters rescue dogs, and looks forward to skiing the Rockies each winter with her family.

Vicki Allen

Vicki serves as Program Manager for the Center for Executive Education at Belmont University. In this role, she manages custom leadership development programs for corporations as well as open enrollment certificate programs. She works with all constituencies of these programs to create and implement meaningful learning experiences that are both seamless and impactful. She is skilled at fitting all the little pieces of the program management puzzle into the big picture of a successful professional development experience.

Vicki loves having a front row seat to the transformation that occurs as adult learners attain new knowledge and skills. Her previous work experience leading and supporting nonprofit business, academia and ministry has always been about people development, including a previous tenure at the Center for Executive Education. She really enjoys using her strengths and skills to facilitate growth opportunities for professionals who seek to better understand themselves and those around them.

When she’s not working, Vicki enjoys playing outside in the dirt, spending time with friends, cooking and travelling. She loves exploring new cultures, especially if her two daughters are along for the adventure. And she always enjoys returning to the loved ones, mountains, pastures and beaches of her beloved home state of Alabama.

Jill Robinson

Jill started her career in 1995 at Tennessee 200, Inc., the non-profit responsible for managing Tennessee’s 200th birthday celebration. She directed programs and marketing garnering over 90 Tennessee county volunteer committees and over 15,000 volunteers developing programming for the celebration.

In 1997 she contracted with Tennessee Association of Craft Artists (TACA), a statewide not for profit supporting crafts artist guilds in four regions of the state, and LifeWay’s National Baptist Association Collegiate Department, marketing and planning educational programming across the state and nationally.

She soon joined Charter Resource Group, a consulting firm specializing in change management and personal coaching for CEOs in the Southeast, which helped to develop her interest in change management, and organizational dynamics.

She joined the Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC) in 1999 managing their first “in-house” volunteer department, setting new structure and creating new programs growing it from 30 to 350 annual volunteers in two years. Always ready for a challenge, she took on new responsibility over the six years ending her career at TPAC as the Director of Development supporting the fundraising goals for TPAC’s $1.5 million educational outreach programs.

Finding a passion for organizational management and oversight, she sought further personal development by obtaining a Masters Degree in Organizational Management from Trevecca Nazarene University in 2002, and completed her MBA summer of 2004.

February of 2005, she joined Belmont University in the Office of the President and University Advancement, building a new structure for events management focusing on presidential initiatives, donor relations, and cross functional team management.

In the summer of 2007, she joined the Center for Executive Education at Belmont University as the Director of Executive Learning and Marketing combining both her love for learning with her niche in marketing and managing learning programs.

She received the inaugural 40 Under 40 Nashville Business Journal award in 2009 and the Nashville Chamber of Commerce Nashville Emerging Leaders award for Education in 2010. Jill accepted the chair position for the YP Nashville organization in 2012 for the Chamber of Commerce, a one year term leading other YP city initiatives, and in 2013 accepted the two year chairmanship for Young Leaders Council organization focused on training young professionals in board development, finding internship placements for their service in greater Middle Tennessee. Jill served as a member of the Advisory Board for Tennessee Repertory Theatre 2012 - 2013, and joined the Advisory Board for Oz Modern Arts Center in 2013 continuing her support of the arts in Tennessee. She is an active member in the Williamson County and Nashville Chambers of Commerce, serving on the Chamber Midtown Leadership Team of the Nashville Chamber of Commerce.

Jill moved to the Dean of the College of Business Administration’s suite in January 2014 to serve as Director of External Relations and Executive Learning Networks at Belmont University, expanding her role in bringing the needs of the community and goals of the College of Business Administration together in support of programming, learning, and outreach.

In her spare time, she enjoys spoiling her nieces, volunteering, painting, reading and exercise, and quite often can be found on a hike at Percy Warner, or yoga in the park. The novice foodie can be found eating out in Nashville at the latest restaurant opening, or in class learning about vino and cheese.

Mark Fox

Mark Fox joined the CEE Team in April after an extensive career with Bridgestone Americas. Mark’s role with Bridgestone Americas included the design, implementation, management, and delivery of leadership development programs for high potential teammates.

Many of Mark’s 39 years with Bridgestone were focused on operational leadership. Mark’s years of experience on the factory floor serve him well as he develops the leaders of tomorrow. At CEE, Mark continues to develop the leadership capability of clients participating in his programs. Mark has a Bachelor of Arts from David Lipscomb University and lives in Nashville with his wife.

Polly Shepherd Case

Polly Shepherd Case serves as the Client Services Associate for the Center for Executive Education at Belmont University, supporting the administrative and logistical needs to the CEE team & clients. Polly also serves as a project coordinator for the CEE team. Her natural organization and attention to detail allows her to provide hospitality, scheduling, budgeting & marketing support for all program and office needs.

Polly has extensive experience in project management and process improvement. Her early career was in banking operations and she served on the implementation and training team of the nation’s first intrastate bank merger while employed by First Union Bank in Charlotte. She moved to Nashville with First American Bank and spent several years contributing to operational special projects and more community bank mergers. She is an early graduate of Young Leaders Council and served on the board for McNeilly Center for Children. In 2007, Polly joined the staff at Vanderbilt University and spent several years in various program support roles across campus.

Polly was born and raised in Columbus, IN and is a graduate of Indiana University Bloomington with a bachelors in Comparative Religious Studies. She considers herself a lifelong learner and loves the challenge of expanding her knowledge and interpersonal skills required to grow as a human. Polly trained as an End of Life Doula and for the last several years, has served as a committed volunteer serving patients and their caregivers at Alive Hospice of Nashville. While away from Belmont, Polly enjoys her special role as “Honey” to her children and grandchildren and she is fortunate that they all live and play close by. She spends considerable time at Warner Parks - hiking, chasing butterflies, and snapping photos of the beautiful scenery. Polly enjoys the practice of mindfulness meditation and is a lover of books, needle arts, and nature photography.