As Chair of the Equal Opportunities Commission (1999β2005) she is credited with transforming a law enforcement body into a catalyst for change on equal pay, pregnancy discrimination and flexible working.Mellor was born in 1957 and studied Experimental Psychology at Brasenose College, Oxford where she is now an honorary fellow.
Between 1979 and 1981, she was Eleanor Emerson Fellow in Industrial Relations Education at Cornell University.
Prior to her appointment as Chair of the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) her career was in Human Resources, working for Royal Dutch Shell (1981β1983), the Greater London Council (1983β1986), the Inner London Education Authority (1986β1989), TSB (1989β1992) and as Corporate Human Resources Director for British Gas (1992β1996).
She worked as a consultant on employment and consumer issues until 1999.
As of May 2019, She is currently Chair of the Federation for Industry Sector Skills and StandardsFollowing her time at the EOC she was a partner in the health team at PricewaterhouseCoopers (2005β2011) and pioneered citizens' juries as part of the firm's contribution to the public sector.
She was the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration and the Health Service Commissioner for England (Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman) (2012 to 2017) where she increased investigations of complaints about public services tenfold from circa 450 a year to 5000 a year and worked with Parliament to use the learning from complaints to hold government to account for improving public services.Mellor has served as a non-executive board member on several bodies: Commission for Racial Equality (1996 and 2003); Fatherhood Institute (2004β2008); National Consumer Council (2001β2007), Employer's Forum on Disability (1994β2009), the Green Alliance (2007β2009) and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (2008β2011).