Meleah joined the Alliance for the Great Lakes as Director of Clean Water & Equity in 2023. In this role, Meleah is responsible for leading the Alliance’s water infrastructure team, with a focus on advancing equity in access to clean drinking water and sanitation and ensuring that people are safe from flooding. Meleah brings her dual background in law and public health to her work, as well as a deep commitment to social justice and community-centered advocacy.
Prior to joining the Alliance, Meleah spent over a decade with the Natural Resources Defense Council, where she focused most recently on environmental justice and civil rights across a wide range of topics and all levels of government. She also has nearly two decades of experience working on complex air pollution issues and enjoys teaching students at colleges and universities in the Chicago area. Meleah holds a B.A. from Brown University, a J.D. from Harvard Law School, and an M.P.H. from the Harvard School of Public Health. Meleah loves cycling and eating all the foods and can be found cheering on her son at his baseball and basketball games in her free time. After living in the Chicago area for almost 20 years, she has developed a love of the Great Lakes that almost makes up for missing the mountains of her New England home region.