Melissa Navas
Melissa roots herself in community and melds her experiences in public service, policy, and communications to advance racial equity and justice for meaningful and lasting change.
As a vice president at MG, with a focus on public health, Melissa works at the intersection of policy, communications, and politics.
Her areas of expertise include:
- Strategic and crisis communications
- Community engagement
- Policy advocacy and analysis
- Nonprofit management
Experience
She has served in leadership roles for Multnomah County, Oregon’s most populous county, and as press secretary to two Oregon governors. Melissa’s communications background spans political campaigns and journalism. As a reporter, she wrote about education, public health, and diverse communities. She also supported students as director of career development at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics, a nonpartisan organization inspiring young people to pursue public service.
Melissa is a proud community college graduate of Contra Costa College in the San Francisco Bay Area. She earned a Master of Public Policy from the University of Chicago and a B.A. in journalism from the University of Nevada, Reno.
In Community
Always searching for awe-inspiring experiences, Melissa enjoys meteor showers under dark skies, whale watching, and getting lost in new cities around the world. She practices photography, reminisces over ’80s and ’90s R&B, and builds community in the book club she started with dope women nearly 20 years ago.