Melissa Prober

Melissa has more than 20 years of experience in law, media, government, and politics. Her legal expertise includes a broad range of areas, such as contract drafting and negotiation, employment advice, intellectual property, nonprofit Board governance and tax-exempt issues, data privacy, risk mitigation and crisis management, internal investigations, and general business advice.

Prior to establishing her own legal practice, Melissa was Senior Vice President and General Counsel at The Jed Foundation, a nonprofit focused on suicide prevention and mental health awareness for teens and young adults, and General Counsel at C Street Advisory Group, a strategic consulting firm that she helped launch. Melissa also served as in-house counsel at the New York Genome Center, an academic research organization, and the Clinton Foundation. 

Before going in-house, Melissa was a litigator at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP, and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, LLP where her practice focused on management-side employment law, white collar criminal defense, regulatory inquiries, internal investigations, and complex civil litigations. 

Prior to law school, Melissa handled public policy and programming at Oxygen Media at the time of its launch. Under her leadership, Oxygen received a Mark Award for Best Public, Community Relations & Event Marketing Program for Melissa’s work directing Oxygen’s Choose to Lead advocacy campaign aimed at increasing the number of women in elected positions.

Melissa’s career began in the West Wing of the Clinton White House where she served in the Counsel’s Office. She was part of the team who defended President Clinton during the House Impeachment and subsequent Senate Trial. 

Melissa attended Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut and Brooklyn Law School, where she served as the Notes and Comments Editor for its Law Review. Melissa lives in DUMBO with her husband, Dana Hughes, and their two children.

Select Advisory, Philanthropic & Political Activities

Melissa is a member of the Board of Directors of the Brooklyn Book Bodega, which aims to increase the number of 100+ book homes for kids 0-18 in New York City. She is actively involved in Brooklyn Org, where she was a member of the Spark Prize Committee in 2024 and 2025, and co-chair of the Changemakers Ball in 2025 and 2026. She was also of co-chair of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Annual Gala (formerly the Black Tie Ball) in 2026.

Melissa is deeply involved in Democratic politics and helps raise money for Democratic candidates up and down the ballot. She was National Co-Chair of Women for Harris on the finance side for Vice President Kamala Harris’s 2024 presidential campaign. She previously served as National Co-Chair of Women for Biden. During the 2024 cycle, she raised $5 million for the Presidential candidates. A Bloomberg article about female donors noted that “[t]here are, of course, a coterie of high-profile female backers, including Melinda French Gates, Laurene Powell Jobs, Sheryl Sandberg and Beyoncé. But many more women will come through the higher-touch, lower-profile efforts of motivated, well-networked people like Melissa Prober, one of the four volunteer co-chairs of Women for Harris.”

She served on the National Finance Committee for three Presidential candidates (Vice President Kamala Harris in 2019 and 2024; President Joe Biden in 2020 and 2024; and Secretary Hillary Clinton in 2016), as well as Ray McGuire for Mayor of New York City in 2021. She was Campaign Finance Chair for Brian Benjamin’s campaigns for Comptroller and election as Lt. Governor. Melissa also serves a Senior Advisor for 2040 Strategy Group.