Announcing MRSC’s Next Executive Director, Melanie Harding

MRSC Board President Brett Wachsmith wishes to share the following message with our state and local government partners: 

We are excited to announce the hiring of MRSC’s next executive director, Melanie Harding, who will join us starting October 21. 

Melanie’s Background

Melanie has nearly 20 years of non-partisan local government experience working with staff and elected officials in Washington State. Since 2015 she has worked for the City of Tacoma, where she is currently serving on an interim basis as Deputy City Manager. She has also held several other roles at the city, including Assistant to the City Manager, Chief Policy Analyst to the Mayor, and Employment Standards Program Manager. Prior to the City of Tacoma, she worked at the City of Puyallup for nine years in a series of progressively more responsible roles.  

Our search committee was especially impressed by Melanie’s local government experience, superb communication skills, and ability to work collaboratively with many different stakeholders across a diversity of viewpoints. We believe these qualities will make her an effective leader at MRSC, helping us strengthen relationships and further our mission of service to cities, counties, special purpose districts, and our other government partners throughout the state.  

Transition Period  

To ensure a smooth transition, there will be a roughly two-week overlap in which Melanie will work closely with our retiring executive director, Tracy Burrows. Tracy’s last day will be October 31.  

We look forward to introducing you to Melanie as we start this exciting new chapter in MRSC’s history!