Yolanda Melville
A former Atlantic City attorney will be the new head of the state’s Division on Civil Rights.
Yolanda Melville will take over as director March 19, after current Director Sundeep Iyer rejoins the Office of the Attorney General.
Iyer will serve as acting executive assistant attorney general while Angela Cai is on family leave in early spring, Attorney General Matthew Plantkin announced Friday.
Iyer when will say in the office in a senior executive leadership role.
Melville, a former partner at Cooper Levenson in Atlantic City, now will lead the state agency charged with protecting the civil rights of New Jersey residents.
She previously served as senior counsel and director of community engagement with the state Attorney General's Office.
“Yolanda is a trusted advisor and a deeply committed public servant, and I am grateful for her visionary leadership at this critical time for civil rights in our state,” Platkin said.
As required by statute, Melville’s appointment as DCR Director was also approved by Governor Phil Murphy and the New Jersey Commission on Civil Rights.
“As Sundeep elevates to the role of acting executive assistant attorney general, I am thrilled to welcome Yolanda Melville as the director of the Division on Civil Rights,” Murphy said. “Yolanda’s impressive legal background suits her well for this role and I am certain she will continue on the great work of her predecessor on behalf of all New Jerseyans.”
Melville was vice president of the Atlantic City chapter of the NAACP from 2021 to 2022, and was a board member of the Atlantic County Coalition for a Safe Community from 2017 to 2020.
She was a clerk for Superior Court Judge Susan Maven in the Appellate Division.
“We welcome Yolanda Melville as the next Director of the Division. Director Melville brings a great depth of experience as an attorney and has a deep passion for civil rights, and I look forward to working together with her on the many pressing civil rights challenges facing our state and the Division in the coming year,” said John Traier, chair of the New Jersey Commission on Civil Rights.
“I am humbled by the opportunity to serve New Jersey as its director of the Division on Civil Rights and thank Governor Murphy and Attorney General Platkin for entrusting me with this responsibility,” Melville said. “This is an uncertain time for civil rights protections in America, which makes the work of states such as New Jersey more important than ever. Alongside the dedicated public servants in the Division, I look forward to applying our State’s civil rights laws to ensure that no resident faces discrimination in New Jersey.”
The Division on Civil Rights is responsible for enforcing the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, the nation’s oldest anti-discrimination law, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, pregnancy or breastfeeding, and a variety of other protected characteristics in the workforce, places of public accommodation, housing, and lending.
The division is charged with preventing and eliminating discrimination in New Jersey by investigating and acting upon complaints alleging discrimination, and by affirmatively issuing reports and publications, conducting investigations, and implementing educational and community outreach programs to address systemic discrimination.
