Peter & Stacie Nicandri
Peter and Stacie Nicandri are Melissa’s parents and founding members of the Melissa Jane Nicandri Foundation. Their love for their daughter and commitment to honoring her legacy are at the heart of everything the foundation stands for. Peter is a partner at Milam Howard Nicandri & Gillam, P.A., where he brings over 35 years of legal experience. Stacie is deeply involved in community outreach and foundation programs, helping to shape the work that carries Melissa’s spirit forward. Together, they guide the foundation’s vision with strength, grace, and an unwavering belief in the power of kindness, service, and connection.
Paul Nicandri
Paul Nicandri is Melissa’s uncle and a founding board member of the foundation. He brings a deep family connection to his role, helping advance the foundation’s mission. Paul is the Chief Practice Management & Pricing Officer at DLA Piper, where he oversees operations and service integration across the U.S. and Latin America.
Michael Nicandri
Michael Nicandri is Melissa’s younger brother. Committed to honoring her legacy, bringing both personal insight and professional expertise to the foundation. He holds a degree from the University of Florida and currently works in Data Analytics for a manufacturing company in the greater Jacksonville area. Michael is proud to help guide the foundation’s mission and ensure that Melissa’s spirit continues to make a meaningful impact in the lives of others.
Cloe Anderson
Cloe Anderson met Melissa during their freshman year at Vanderbilt through Tri Delta, and the two remained close friends for the next ten years. They shared a love of good books, long phone calls, and an encyclopedic knowledge of Taylor Swift, celebrating both life’s milestones and its everyday moments together. Cloe considers it the honor of a lifetime to have been Melissa’s friend. She is a lawyer based in Washington, D.C.
Emily Daley
Emily Daley met Melissa during the first week of their freshman year at Vanderbilt, and the two quickly formed a close friendship that grew over the next eleven years. They joined the same sorority, bonded over their shared love of reading, celebrity news, and musicals, and spent several years living near one another in New York City. Emily now leads commercialization efforts at a biotech startup in New York City and is honored to continue celebrating Melissa’s kindness, curiosity, and strength through the work of the foundation.
Paxton Gammie
Paxton Gammie works in Mobility Product at Uber and lives in Amsterdam. She and Melissa were close friends for a decade, living within 100 feet of each other for the majority of that time — from Vanderbilt, to Washington DC, to Brooklyn Heights. They grew into early adulthood together and some of their best memories included concerts in Nashville, long walks during COVID in DC, evenings at the Binc in Brooklyn Heights, traveling through Europe together in college, and Melissa’s visit to Amsterdam spring 2024.
Julia Kaufman
Julia Kaufman met Melissa at age twelve and still remembers her waving from the spelling bee stage. The instinctive warmth between them only deepened, from visiting each other at Vanderbilt and Duke, reunions in Jacksonville, early adulthood in Washington DC, and commuting from Princeton to New York City. The MJN Foundation is a dedicated way to try to carry forward the warmth, wit, and wonder that Melissa shared so freely.
Schafer Kowalchik
Schafer Kowalchik and Melissa met on their first day at Vanderbilt University and quickly became “soul sisters,” bonded by a love of Taylor Swift, sweet treats, and the kind of friendship that shapes a lifetime. Schafer currently works in medical device sales for Stryker and lives in Atlanta. She brings experience from her volunteer work with Girls on the Run Atlanta and the Laurie Leadership Institute of Chi Omega, along with a deep devotion to the MJN Foundation’s mission in carrying forward the love, joy, and impact Melissa shared with everyone around her.
Kelsey Lecker
Kelsey Lecker first met Melissa in 2011 when she moved in as her next-door neighbor on Neck Road. What began as a coincidence quickly grew into a close friendship, sparked by daily carpools to Ponte Vedra High School and a shared love of Taylor Swift. Today, Kelsey honors Melissa’s legacy by carrying forward her spirit of kindness and her remarkable ability to make everyone around her feel truly loved.
Pressly Pratt
Pressly Pratt and Melissa first met on the bus to kindergarten, where they discovered that they were not only neighbors but also in the same class. Pressly and Melissa grew up together and stayed close through adulthood even when they were physically distant. Pressly is a lawyer based in Miami.
Arleigh Salce
Arleigh Salce met Melissa during their freshman year of college, and the two quickly became close friends. They shared a love of discovering new restaurants, traveling, and attending concerts together. Arleigh is a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner based in New York City and is currently pursuing her Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner certification. She is passionate about expanding access to pediatric mental health services, a goal Melissa wholeheartedly supported and encouraged.
Ben Shtuhl
Ben Shtuhl was Melissa’s longtime partner and her closest friend. Ben brings a deep commitment to honoring Melissa’s life and legacy.
Ben is a Product Manager at DailyPay, where he helps design financial tools that improve the lives of working people. He approaches his role on the board with the same care—thoughtfully helping guide the foundation’s programs and ensuring Melissa’s spirit continues to uplift and connect others.
Tanya Wadhawan
Tanya Wadhawan met Melissa during their freshman year at Vanderbilt, where they quickly became close and joined the same sorority. They spent summers interning together in Washington D.C., later becoming roommates after graduation. After each completing graduate degrees in different fields, they both moved to New York in 2022 and loved exploring the stretch of Brooklyn between their apartments, just a ten-minute walk apart. Tanya now works in cybersecurity at Meta.