Some people hope for change. Jesse Melgar makes it.
Raised in Riverside by a Salvadoran immigrant and Mexican-American mother, Jesse has never waited for permission to get to work. Instead, he looks around, sees what’s working, what isn’t, and where he identifies gaps, he leans in. Boldly. For the community.
It’s not surprising that his name is tied to many “firsts.”
He’s the first millennial – and youngest person ever – to chair the board of the Inland Empire Community Foundation (IECF). He launched one of the first and most comprehensive region-specific Latino philanthropic Funds and strategies through the CIELO Fund. He was the first in his family to graduate from college earning a bachelor’s from UCLA. And, he was part of the first graduating class of Master of Public Policy students and the first School of Public Policy graduate to receive one of UCR’s top alumni awards: the Young Alumni of Distinction. And the list goes on.
Perhaps what makes him a dynamic leader is that he doesn’t seek to be the first. Instead, he thinks about what problems need solving and is thoughtful about taking action to solve them, working alongside other changemakers. It’s an approach that has served him well professionally.
His track record spans government, philanthropy, nonprofits, and academia. He’s held senior roles advising Governors, Senators, Assemblymembers, foundation leaders, nonprofit executives, business leaders, and top academic researchers. He brings his Inland Empire roots to important decision-making spaces – and leverages his network to serve the region he calls home. He focuses on outcomes.
You don’t have to look far to see how. In 2022, he founded the CIELO Fund at IECF. Two years later, it raised over $2 million to invest directly in Latino-led and serving nonprofits and initiatives. It’s one of the region’s boldest efforts to move money—and decision-making power—into the hands of local changemakers.
And he’s not slowing down. Now a Senior Advisor at UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy and a business owner of a boutique public affairs firm, Jesse is helping public institutions design policies that actually work for the communities they serve as well as helping mission-driven organizations have greater impact.
At the Lewis Group of Companies, we believe in spotlighting the doers—people we admire who don’t just concern themselves with pointing to problems, but who advance solutions. Jesse Melgar is one of those people. He’s contributing greatly to the Inland Empire’s future the only way he knows how: with urgency, purpose, and, most importantly, with results.
Rosie Lewis is the Corporate Marketing Manager at The Lewis Group of Companies. A Claremont native who enjoys hiking, yoga, and developing her green thumb, Rosie also appreciates quality alone time to wrestle with existential questions because someone has to figure out why we’re all here pretending everything’s fine while our houseplants judge our life choices.