Secretary of the District of Columbia 
Stephanie Scott took office as Secretary of the District of Columbia on January 2, 2007, when Adrian Fenty was sworn in as the 5th Mayor of the District of Columbia. In her first year in office, Dr. Scott focused on improving the Secretariat’s service to customers through access to documents and information on the Secretariat’s website, reviving moribund sister city relationships, and working with the Office of the Chief Technology Officer to begin the process of digitizing DC Government.
Dr. Scott holds a doctoral degree in psychology from the City University of New York Graduate School. Her academic research focused on neighborhood participation, affordable housing, community-building through the arts, and the roles of nonprofit organizations in Washington, DC.
Dr. Scott is active in her community, currently focusing on the PTA at Shepherd Elementary School in Northwest, where her two young children are students. Her husband, Lt. Col. Les’ Melnyk, Ph.D., is a member of the National Guard and serves as a Public Affairs Officer at the Pentagon.
Dr. Scott is a lifelong Washingtonian, having moved to DC at age two when her father, the first African-American reporter hired full-time for the Associated Press, was transferred to the District from New York. She lives with her family in her childhood home which she purchased from her mother, who moved to Ward 6 after 30 years in Ward 4.
