Melanie A Ruiz
Ms. Melanie Ruiz is the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Officer at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). She provides leadership for the activities in the FOIA Office by overseeing individual requests for federal agency records.
Ms. Ruiz joined the USGS in September 2021. Prior to that, she was with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) for 23 years working with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and Endangered Species Act (ESA) litigation at the headquarters level and in the Southwest Region. Throughout her time at FWS, Ms. Ruiz was primarily responsible for coordinating and preparing FOIA responses and for the preparation of administrative records for ESA litigation. Ms. Ruiz started her career with the FWS as a student intern while in law school. Upon graduation, she accepted a position at FWS headquarters with the Division of Endangered Species in Arlington, VA, as a Litigation Coordinator. She then returned to the Southwest as a Program Analyst to work on FOIA and Endangered Species Act litigation at the regional level in Albuquerque, NM. She later served on the Division of Ecological Services Management Team as the Supervisor for the Branch of Endangered Species Act Litigation and FOIA and as the Supervisor for the Branch of Decision Support.
Ms. Ruiz is a graduate of the University of New Mexico where she earned her Juris Doctor degree with concentrations in environmental and Indian law. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of Florida.