Melvin Carter is CEO of FUSE, a national nonprofit that partners with local governments to bring executive talent to bear on complex public challenges. He joins FUSE after two decades in local and state government, most recently as Mayor of Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Melvin’s signature accomplishments include founding the Saint Paul Promise Neighborhood, creating universal college savings accounts for children born in the city, securing a 20-year infrastructure investment for city streets, parks, and bikeways, making historic investments in housing, and cutting gun violence by 70 percent through a Community-First public safety framework co-designed with residents.
A founding member and former national co-chair of Mayors for a Guaranteed Income, Melvin was one of five mayors invited to testify at the inaugural hearing of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on the Climate Crisis, and is the subject of two case studies published by Harvard Business School. He has written on poverty, public safety, and civic leadership for CNN, Newsweek, and Stanford Social Innovation Review.
Melvin serves on the board of Borealis Philanthropy and is an alumnus of the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative. He holds a Master of Public Policy from the University of Minnesota and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Florida A&M University.
