Melissa Gessner is a Detroit-based Group Creative Director and brand steward with 20+ years of experience building, protecting, and evolving iconic brands through integrated creative leadership.

She has spent her career at the intersection of strategy and craft — developing brand voice, identity systems, and full-funnel campaigns for some of the world's most recognized names, including Chevrolet, Jeep, PNC Bank, Lincoln, Mercedes-Benz, and OhioHealth. Her work spans television, digital, social, print, experiential, and emerging media, always anchored in a deep respect for what makes a brand irreplaceable to the people who love it.

Most recently, Melissa served as Creative Director at Commonwealth//McCann, where she led integrated creative development across the GM portfolio — directing brand voice and segmentation strategy for Chevrolet, stewarding the GM Certified Service legacy business, and translating complex new technology into simple, human stories for GM's EV and mobility initiatives. Earlier in her career, she led creative direction on Jeep Provisions branded apparel and gear, driving $15M in sales — work that reflects her ability to connect brand identity to product and merchandise with equal fluency.

A player-coach at heart, Melissa builds and mentors high-performing multidisciplinary teams, fosters collaborative creative cultures, and champions the kind of work that deepens brand love while driving measurable results. Her work has been recognized by Clio, Cannes, One Show, D-Show, New York Advertising Awards, London Ad Awards, and others.

She serves on the Marketing Committee of the Michigan Humane Society, and is actively involved in Detroit's creative and civic community, and has served as a board member of AIGA Detroit.