Daryn Melvin

Daryn Melvin most recently served as the Chief of Staff for Hopi Vice Chairman Clark W. Tenakhongva. During his tenure, he was the special policy advisor to the Hopi COVID-19 Task Team, responsible for developing strategies to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace. Daryn also collaborated with the Hopi Department of Education, Workforce Development and the Hopi Cultural Preservation Office to develop a Hopi Language Proficiency Exam to assess Hopi proficiency in four fundamental areas and arrive at an unbiased yet quantifiable measure of linguistic abilities. A highlight of his work with the Vice Chairman's Office was serving as a Bears Ears Intertribal Coalition Cultural Subcommittee member to help draft the Joint-Land Management Plan for the Bears Ears National Monument.

For four years, Daryn was a co-instructor for a graduate field course entitled "The Ecology of Residency" through the University of Utah's Environmental Humanities program. He also worked with the Zuni Public School District to develop Zuni Language Learning Standards. From 2019 to 2021, he served as the President of the Hopi Tribal Grants and Scholarships Program Board and currently serves as a member of the Board of Commissioners for the Hopi Community of Yuweh-loo Pahki. Daryn has co-authored and contributed to several publications, most recently a volume entitled Warhol and West published by the University of California Press in 2020.

Daryn is from the Village of Sitsom'ovi and belongs to the Patkingyam (Water clan). In addition to his work with the Hopi Tribe, he is a dedicated farmer and committed to perpetuating Hopi cultural practices.