Jesse Melgar is Vice President of Government Affairs at The California Endowment, where he leads the foundation’s government affairs and policy engagement. Before joining The California Endowment, he served as Senior Advisor for Strategy & Public Affairs at the UC Berkeley Possibility Lab, housed at the UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy, and co-led California 100, a statewide initiative focused on long-term policy innovation and planning.

Jesse spent more than a decade in senior roles across California state government, including as Communications Director and Press Secretary to Gov. Gavin Newsom during the COVID-19 pandemic and Deputy Secretary of State under then-Secretary of State Alex Padilla. In that role, he helped implement major voting reforms, including the Voter’s Choice Act, California Motor Voter, and voter pre-registration.

A longtime civic and philanthropic leader, Jesse serves as Board Chair of the Inland Empire Community Foundation, where he founded the CIELO Fund, a community-led initiative investing in organizations and students across Riverside and San Bernardino counties. He also served as Vice Chair of the California Volunteers Commission, where he helped launch the California Service Corps and College Corps Program.