Juan Melli
Crisis Management • Government Relations • Grassroots Coalition Building • Media Relations • Political Consulting • Public Affairs Campaign Management • Strategic Media Relations
Managing Director
Juan Melli is a Managing Director in Mercury’s Saddle Brook, NJ office. He is an award-winning, bilingual communications strategist with nearly 20 years of experience in public relations, political campaigns, government relations, message development, digital media, crisis communications, and strategic counsel to senior decision-makers.
Juan has served in several senior communications roles in government and politics and has advised elected officials from the federal to local level. He was communications manager for the City of Hoboken and was a long-time trusted advisor to Mayor Dawn Zimmer. In Hoboken, he managed communications under the most extreme conditions during Hurricane Sandy and built the strongest municipal social media presence in the state.
Juan was Digital Director for a U.S. Senate campaign, a senior communications advisor in a U.S. House race, Director of New Media for a New Jersey gubernatorial campaign, advisor to a mayoral campaign, and an Associate Editor and Columnist for PolitickerNJ.com. He founded an early and widely read New Jersey state-level political news and analysis website in 2005.
Juan serves on the gubernatorially-appointed inaugural board of the New Jersey State Parks and Open Space Foundation. He is also an active volunteer with several non-profits, serving as President of the Board of Team Wilderness, Vice President of the Hoboken Community Center, and as a Board Member of the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference. An avid hiker, he is a volunteer trail maintainer on a section of the Appalachian Trail and previously served on the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Outdoor Recreation Advisory Committee.
In 2025, Melli was recognized by BINJE as one of New Jersey’s Best Hispanic Business Leaders and named to Insider NJ’s inaugural Puentes de Impacto / Bridges of Impact list of Latino leaders.
In 2006, PolitickerNJ.com recognized Juan as “Politician of the Year” and later ranked him #17 on the Top 100 Power List. He was ranked among the Top 10 Power Brokers in Hudson County in 2018 by Talk On the Hudson.
Juan is a 2002 graduate of Rutgers University and earned a Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University in 2008. He resides in Hoboken, NJ with his wife and two boys.
Juan was Digital Director for a U.S. Senate campaign, a senior communications advisor in a U.S. House race, Director of New Media for a New Jersey gubernatorial campaign, advisor to a mayoral campaign, and an Associate Editor and Columnist for PolitickerNJ.com. He founded an early and widely read New Jersey state-level political news and analysis website in 2005.
Juan serves on the gubernatorially-appointed inaugural board of the New Jersey State Parks and Open Space Foundation. He is also an active volunteer with several non-profits, serving as President of the Board of Team Wilderness, Vice President of the Hoboken Community Center, and as a Board Member of the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference. An avid hiker, he is a volunteer trail maintainer on a section of the Appalachian Trail and previously served on the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Outdoor Recreation Advisory Committee.
In 2025, Melli was recognized by BINJE as one of New Jersey’s Best Hispanic Business Leaders and named to Insider NJ’s inaugural Puentes de Impacto / Bridges of Impact list of Latino leaders.
In 2006, PolitickerNJ.com recognized Juan as “Politician of the Year” and later ranked him #17 on the Top 100 Power List. He was ranked among the Top 10 Power Brokers in Hudson County in 2018 by Talk On the Hudson.
Juan is a 2002 graduate of Rutgers University and earned a Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University in 2008. He resides in Hoboken, NJ with his wife and two boys.
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