Wentworth Names New VP for Employee Relations and Engagement

Melanie A. DeSantis has been named Wentworth Institute of Technology’s new vice president for employee relations and engagement.  

DeSantis brings 30 years of human resource leadership experience in fully supporting all aspects of the employee experience both in higher education and governmental settings. She comes to Wentworth from Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania where she led a comprehensive process for creating a new salary structure, updated college and position goals, created standard position descriptions, established a new classification process, and instituted a new performance review process for staff positions at the college. Over the last year, she has led the college’s employee COVID-19 response and planning for a return to work. 

Prior to Franklin & Marshall, DeSantis worked at Millersville University, a public university in Pennsylvania, from 2006 through 2018. Earlier in her career, she served as a management consultant providing strategic advice and training on leadership, team building, and planning. She also worked for the U.S. General Services Administration in the New England and Southwest regions implementing region-wide training and in developing a region-wide quality management program.  

DeSantis received a Master of Public Administration from The American University and a Bachelor of Science in Theater from Towson University. She has been a frequent presenter on timely human resource topics ranging from leadership development to transition planning at conferences hosted by CUPA-HR and NACUBO. She formerly served as the president of the CUPA-HR Pennsylvania Delaware Chapter and currently serves as a member of the CUPA-HR Eastern Region Board.