Melissa Skelton
Melissa Skelton came to the Diocese of Olympia in 2005, when she accepted the call to serve as rector of St. Paul, Seattle, which has doubled in size since that time. In 2009, Melissa became the Canon for Congregational Development and Leadership in this diocese, and launched the College for
Congregational Development the same year.
Baptized in the Presbyterian Church at the age of 12 and confirmed in the Episcopal Church as an adult in 1978, Melissa was ordained a priest in 1993 while working as a brand manager at Proctor & Gamble. She then served as Vice President of Administration at General Theological Seminary in New York. While there, in addition to her role of overseeing the seminary’s operations, she taught seminary courses in Christian education, served on the staff of the Church Development Institute and oversaw the College for New Bishops. She also served as priest associate at Trinity Wall Street. In 1997, Melissa went to work for Tom’s of Maine as vice president of consumer and brand development, communications and advertising, working on the development of new products and the company’s organization development efforts. She then became rector of Trinity Church, Castine, Maine, and started a consulting business with two emphases: in-depth consumer work (“consumer ethnography”) and organization and congregational development.
Melissa holds master's degrees in English, divinity and business administration, and her undergraduate degree is in Renaissance studies (with honors). She has an adult son who lives in the Washington, D.C. area, and she is the proud owner of Teddy, a West Highland White Terrier.
