About the Director

Demetrios “Mitch” Melis was appointed as the Director of the Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation on January 15, 2022 by Governor Glenn Youngkin.  

Melis has worked in the occupational licensing field for over 17 years and is known and recognized as a public sector innovator, committed to delivering exceptional customer service and continuous process and organizational improvement.    

From 2006 to 2018 Melis held various progressively responsible positions at DPOR in both the agency’s mission focused and customer facing divisions, the Compliance & Investigations Division and the Licensing & Regulatory Programs Division. Prior to his appointment as Director of DPOR, he served as the Director of Regulatory Compliance for the Virginia State Bar, an administrative agency of the Supreme Court of Virginia.  

Melis holds a Master of Public Administration, a post-baccalaureate certificate in Criminal Justice, and a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University. Additionally, he has completed graduate coursework at Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business and College of Computing & Informatics.  

Melis is a 2004 alumnus of the historic and prestigious Virginia Governor’s Fellows Program where he served in the Office of the Secretary of Public Safety. He has attended numerous trainings in leadership and the development of high performing organizations and is certified in Agile Leadership for Organizations through ScrumAlliance.