Melanie Kytola, Co-founder and VP, Business Development
Previously, Melanie worked as a business strategist at First Tennessee Bank, where she advised business owners, CEOs and CFOs on cash flow, financing growth and operations, building company value and stability, reducing operating costs, and reducing the impact of risk.
An expert on Asian business practices, Melanie previously served as the Business Development Director of Forval Corporation, a telecommunications/IT firm in Tokyo, Japan, where she created and launched their first bilingual division to market and sell business-to-business products and services to the foreign market. As an active member of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan, she was instrumental in establishing joint venture partnerships between Japanese and American companies providing invaluable cross-cultural knowledge.
A veteran, Melanie started her career as a meteorologist with the U.S. Air Force, and then transitioned into international business development and consulting in Tokyo, Japan where she worked with several fortune 500 companies over the course of 10 years.
Melanie serves on the member relations committee and small business advisory committee of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce and is a member of Cable and the Japan-America Society of Tennessee. She received her B.A. in Business and Management from the University of Maryland University College. In 2008, Melanie received recognition as volunteer of the year for Catholic Charities refugee resettlement program, where she mentors newly arrived refugee families from Iraq, Bhutan, Somalia, and Pakistan. She and her husband reside in Brentwood, TN.