Malinda Griffin, MNAA is a Founding Instructor of The Valuation Collective, where she helps women appraisers understand the regulatory and industry forces shaping their work, and find their voice in the conversations that decide the profession's future.

Malinda founded Malinda Griffin & Co. in 1990 in the Upstate of South Carolina and has practiced there ever since as a Certified Residential Appraiser and Real Estate Abstractor. Her clients include lending institutions, appraisal management companies, attorneys, accountants, and private owners. In 2018 she added South Carolina continuing education for appraisers and Realtors to her practice, and she is licensed in the state as an instructor for both.

Her path into appraisal started with a piece of advice. After the birth of her child in 1990, she began abstracting titles for local attorneys because the work gave her the flexibility a new mother needed. Two years later her father told her not to put all her eggs in one basket. She completed the education, took her first appraisal assignment from a local banker, and went to work in a county where she was the only woman appraiser and nearly every loan officer ordering appraisals was a man. She built the business on good service, dependable turn times, and reports clients could rely on. More than thirty years later, that is still how she practices.

That work led her to leadership. Malinda served as President of the South Carolina Professional Appraisers Coalition in 2020 and returned to its board in 2026. She was elected to the National Association of Appraisers Board of Directors in 2021 and installed as NAA President in 2024. She served as 2025 to 2026 Chair of The Appraisal Foundation Advisory Council and sits on the South Carolina Real Estate Appraisers Board, the National Association of Realtors Real Property Committee, and the AARO Conference Program Committee. She holds the Home Measurement Specialist and Appraisal Review certifications.