Melodye Serino uses the knowledge gained as a government major at Smith College on a daily basis solving the challenges of local government as the deputy county administrative officer at the County of Santa Cruz. She serves as a member of the executive leadership team, working to build an open and responsive government that delivers quality services that strengthen and enhance the community. She gained her initial experience in the public sector in New York serving in Governor Mario Cuomo’s administration, assisting with environmental and energy policy issues.

Serino was previously the founder and CEO of Praxis Consulting and served clients in a wide variety of organizations in the private, public and nonprofit sectors. Her goal was always to assist organizations in bringing people together to find mutually agreeable solutions, make healthy decisions that included everyone’s voice and ensured actionable plans that adhered to stated values. However, it was in her well-spent youth as a professional jazz musician that she experienced first-hand the wisdom of teams. This is where she learned the fundamentals of discourse, listening, leadership, high performance team facilitation and creative problem-solving.

In addition to her Smith education, she completed a graduate fellowship in public service as a Coro Fellow in New York City and earned her master’s degree in organizational development from the University of San Francisco. Serino was born in Chicago, and though she has lived in many other places, she remains a loyal Cubs fan.