Melinda Colón Cox
General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer
Melinda Colón Cox joined New Jersey Community Capital (NJCC) in April 2022 as its first General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer. Melinda is responsible for leading and reviewing NJCC’s internal and external corporate governance, business and lending policies and procedures, ensuring compliance with state and federal regulatory requirements, advising on all legal-related matters and needs, and providing leadership and guidance on external affairs, communications, and business and investment compliance, development and planning on an organization-wide basis.
Prior to joining NJCC, Melinda was a litigation partner and Executive Committee member at Parker Ibrahim & Berg LLP (PIB Law). At PIB Law, Melinda’s practice focused on the representation of national banks, financial institutions, and businesses on matters related to financial services, consumer finance and protection, bankruptcy, contract disputes and state and federal regulatory compliance. Prior to joining PIB Law, Melinda served as a law clerk to the Honorable Michael A. Shipp, U.S.D.J., and as an associate at Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer P.C. in its Redevelopment, Strategic Business Development Unit, and Commercial Real Estate teams.
Melinda has been active in the legal community for several years. She is a past president of the Hispanic Bar Association of New Jersey and currently serves as the Chairman of the Cristian Rivera Foundation. Melinda was named a New Jersey Super Lawyers Rising Star from 2014-2020, a New Jersey Super Lawyer from 2021-2022, and received the HNBA’s Top Lawyers Under 40 in 2019, the New Jersey Law Journal’s 2019 New Leaders of the Bar, ROI-NJ Influencers – People of Color 2020 Difference Makers, and was named one of Latino Magazine’s 2020 Lawyers to Keep on the Watch. She is a member of the NJ Supreme Court Civil Practice Committee, a Board Member of the Professional Ethics Committee and Diversity Committee of the New Jersey State Bar Association, and a Board member of the Rutgers School of Law Newark Alumni Board.
Melinda earned her J.D. from Rutgers School of Law – Newark, where she was the Senior Articles Editor for the Rutgers Law Review.