Melanie L. Forbes

Melanie Goins has built her career supporting technology businesses through transformative moments in their life cycles.

0She currently serves as General Counsel and Chief People Officer of 1stDibs, an online marketplace for connecting design lovers with highly coveted sellers and makers of vintage, antique, and contemporary furniture, home décor, art, jewelry, watches and fashion. She joined 1stDibs in March 2021 and supported its IPO and Nasdaq listing in June 2021. Melanie served as General Counsel of Care.com, an online family care marketplace, from April 2019 to March 2021, during which she helped guide the company through its acquisition by IAC in February 2020. She previously served as General Counsel for Catalant Technologies, a venture-backed software company. Prior to that, Ms. Goins held several roles at Care.com from 2012 to 2018, where she supported a series of strategic acquisitions and the company’s IPO. She began her legal career as an associate at WilmerHale, primarily advising VC-backed and newly-public companies.

Ms. Goins served as a Lecturer in Law at Columbia Law School from January 2025 to May 2026, during which she taught a seminar on the role of the general counsel in scaling tech company startups. She previously served for ten years as Board Chair of Breakthrough Greater Boston, a non-profit organization creating paths to and through college and promoting careers in education.

Ms. Goins holds a B.A., magna cum laude, in Social Studies from Harvard University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.