Jim Mellado has been appointed the new president and chief executive of child development and advocacy agency Compassion International following the retirement of Dr Wess Stafford.
Mr Mellado, who takes up his new position in September, has served as president of the Willow Creek Association, a not-for-profit ministry in the US dedicated to helping local churches thrive, since 1993. A graduate of Harvard Business School, Mr Mellado is also a former Olympic decathlete, having competed in the 1988 games in Seoul, Korea, in which he represented the country of his birth, El Salvador.
Mr Mellado is only the fifth president in Compassion”s 61-year history. Dr Stafford will have a continuing advocacy role with Compassion”s ministry following his retirement from the presidency in September.
Under Dr Stafford”s leadership, the ministry has grown from just over 180,000 sponsored children in 22 countries in 1993, to now having more than 1.4 million sponsored children in 26 countries. Annual revenues have grown from more than $US55 million in 1993 to now more than $US600 million.
