Mr. Melcher is the Chief Operations Officer for the New Generation Warfare Centre.  He is also affiliated with the Virginia Tech Applied Research Corporation and Alion Science and Technology.  He was a Senior Fellow at The Potomac Foundation and recently graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a Master’s in Global Policy. 

In a prior position, he was a Vice President leading National Security Analysis at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory where he substantially grew their portfolio in modeling, simulation and analysis for US Department of Defense and Home Land Security clients.  He also established and led their efforts to counter China’s anti-access area-denial and the Russian Strategic Initiative.

Mr. Melcher’s career began with 27 years working for the US Navy, the last eight he served in a set of increasingly responsible positions in the Senior Executive Service; first as a civilian he was the single point of contact for all readiness in the Navy - from analysis, to budgeting, to preparing 4 star admirals for testifying in front of congress. Mr. Melcher then became the senior civilian leader and Deputy Director for all Navy analysis and modeling, the latter where he creating the Navy’s World Class Modeling program.  He began his career as an electrical engineer working on major systems acquisition, systems engineering, and science & technology.