Dennis Melton joined SBA in January 2005 as the Deputy District Director of the St. Louis District office and was promoted to District Director in September 2005. Formerly he was chief of the Business Management Division at the Department of Defense's largest data center in Missouri and Illinois, the Defense Enterprise Computing Center St. Louis. The DECC is part of the Defense Information Systems Agency which is a combat support agency responsible for planning, engineering, acquiring, fielding and supporting global net-centric Information Technology solutions under all conditions of peace and war.

Melton started his federal career in 1976 as an intern under the Outstanding Scholar Program with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, St. Louis, Missouri. He worked in recruitment and placement, salary and wage administration, and agency compliance and evaluation, becoming the regional classification appeals officer. In 1985 he departed OPM to serve as the chief of the Recruitment and Placement Division for the U.S. Military Community Activity, Zweibruecken, Germany. In 1989, he joined the National Archives and Records Administration as the chief of staffing in St. Louis. He joined DECC St. Louis in 1999 and became the chief of the Business Management Division in 2001. Melton has received numerous achievement awards throughout his career, including the prestigious Federal Executive Board's "Leadership Award" in 1994 and the DISA Career Recognition Award in 2005.

As the BMD chief, Melton directed a staff of 50 plus employees through subordinate branch supervisors responsible for Finance Management, Logistics Support and Facilities, Customer Support and Marketing, and Plans and Programs in an annual $100M Defense Working Capital Fund (fee for service) environment. As a fee for service entity, the DECC received no funding from Congress and generated its own revenue based upon services provided to customers. Since his arrival at SBA, the St. Louis District Office has been recognized as the 2006 Region VII "District Office of the Year," 2006 National Second Place Medium District Office of the Year, and the Federal Executive Board's 2007 "Professional Team of the Year."

Melton is a St. Louis native, a Vietnam era Veteran (U.S. Army), and a graduate from Missouri State University in 1974 with a B.S. in Business Administration. He and his wife JoAnn are the parents of three children, Melissa Smith, D.D.S. who is practicing in Washington, Missouri.; Lindsey who works at The Boeing Company in St. Louis, Missouri; and Sean who is attending the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri.