Housing activist and entrepreneur Marilyn Melkonian, whose Washington, D.C.-based Telesis Corp. has developed or planned over $2 billion in edge neighborhood transformations with over 15,000 units of housing, has joined Common Cause’s National Governing Board.

“Marilyn’s life has been dedicated to revitalizing urban neighborhoods by helping to provide attractive, affordable housing to their residents,” said Common Cause President Bob Edgar. “Her 40-plus years of experience with housing issues in and out of government will be invaluable as we continue our efforts to ‘hold power accountable’ in both the public and private sectors.”

In addition to running Telesis since its founding in 1985, Melkonian is founder and chair of the National Housing Trust, a national non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the nation’s supply of affordable housing. She served on the Board of the Enterprise Social Investment Corporation from 1989-2011and as a member of the National Housing Task Force which reported to Congress in March, 1988.

An attorney and graduate of Stanford University law school, Melkonian is a Trustee of the Eisenhower Foundation and serves on the Board of the Brookings Institution’s Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy.