Founded more than a century ago, Planned Parenthood has maintained the motto, “Care. No Matter What,” which Melissa Reed has been dedicated to promoting in Central Pennsylvania through her role as President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Keystone (PPKeystone), a reproductive health care nonprofit with nine health centers throughout Central and Northeastern PA.
Since joining the organization five years ago, Reed has kept it moving forward to carry out the three pillars of its strategic plan: service expansion, equity and sustainability. This has been no easy task considering the significant challenges PPKeystone has faced since then, including financial difficulties, political obstacles, loss of federal funding, the COVID pandemic, staffing shortages and a constantly changing medical marketplace.
Reed has assembled an excellent leadership team and in cooperation with them, she has been able to adapt to the obstacles and push the organization, along with its team of 100 employees, to thrive.
Examples of her leadership successes have included overseeing a successful multi-million-dollar capital campaign, which allowed PPKeystone to open new centers in both Reading and Lancaster; finding other sources of funding to allow the organization to continue providing free and low-cost birth control when needed; and expanding services to include medication abortion by mail services and gender-affirming hormone therapy through telehealth visits. She has also been passionate about promoting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) amongst her employees and board members, which has been recognized as a national model for how an affiliate can successfully run a DEI program.
“It is my duty to ensure that our patients get the compassionate and expert care they deserve—no matter what,” Melissa Reed, President and CEO of PPKeystone said. “Seeing firsthand how the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately impacted our patients was the driving force behind our advances in telehealth, new service offerings and the expansion of sex education and sexual and reproductive care.”
