Nell Merlino is Co-founder and CEO of Count Me In for Women's Economic Independence. She is also the founder and President of Strategy Communication Action, Ltd. in New York City, a firm specializing in the creation of public education campaigns that motivate people to act.

Nell created and produced the immensely successful Take Our Daughters To Work Day for the Ms. Foundation for Women in 1993. Stories about girls and their self-esteem appeared on the front page of major and minor newspapers across the country and every television news program. Take Our Daughters to Work Day is now an annual event in the United States and occurs in dozens of countries worldwide.

Merlino has extensive experience in the development and production of dynamic and highly effective national and international efforts including Take Our Daughters to Work Day, NGO Forum on Women in Beijing '95, Earth Day's 20th Anniversary, Picture What Women Do for Lifetime Television, and the YWCA Week Without Violence.

Prior to founding SCA, Nell Merlino worked in two state governments, was an advance woman in presidential politics, a union organizer and a Fulbright Scholar.

After graduating from Antioch College in 1973, Nell went to work in the labor movement. She organized health care workers for District 1199, National Union of Hospital & Health Care Employees and textile workers for the Amalgamated Clothing & Textile Workers Union.

In 1977, Nell received a Fulbright Scholarship to study labor relations in the National Health Service in England.

Nell Merlino spent the next ten years working in two state governments and in presidential politics. As a member of the five-person management team that ran the New Jersey Department of Human Services, Nell helped direct an organization with a $2 billion budget, 22,000 employees and service delivery to over 1 million state residents.

Nell played an active role in the strategic planning and management of State University Medical School & Hospital in Brooklyn as chief of staff to the institution's president. Nell worked in the Scheduling and Advance offices of two presidential campaigns. Creating and producing hundreds of campaign events with advance teams around the country.

In 1989, Nell Merlino started her own business working with clients to develop and implement strategic communication plans. For her work on behalf of women, girls and families, she is recognized in the book, Remarkable Women of the Twentieth Century 100 Portraits of Achievement and was named one of "50 New Yorkers to Watch in 1999" by the New York Daily News. Nell was named Woman of the Year by New Woman magazine in 1993 and awarded the l994 Fulbright Award for Outstanding Achievement.

In April 2004, Nell received the Matrix Award for Achievement from New York Women in Communications. She has also received the Forbes magazine Trailblazer Award in 2000.

Ms. Merlino lives in Manhattan with her husband, Gary Conger.