Melissa Brinson, town clerk of Tonawanda, New York, and president of the Kenmore-Tonawanda Board of Education, has been appointed to the Buffalo State College Council by Gov. David Paterson. Brinson, who succeeds Anne Laura Koessler Brosnahan, whose term has expired, will serve until June 30, 2016.

Brinson is an alumna of the University at Buffalo, earning her B.A. in legal studies with academic distinction. She also completed a leadership program for women at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

In 2005, Brinson was elected to a three-year term on the Kenmore-Town of Tonawanda Board of Education, and reelected to serve another three-year term commencing July 1, 2008. She was elected president of the board by her colleagues in 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009.

In 2007, Brinson was elected Tonawanda town clerk, the first woman in the town’s history to hold the position. Previously, she held several leadership positions on the Tonawanda Town Council, including councilwoman at-large and chair of several planning committees, with a specific focus on energy, environment, and intergovernmental cooperation.

Brinson is the recipient of two 2008 awards: Business First’s “Forty under 40” and the Tonawanda News’ inaugural “Women of Distinction.”

Brinson resides in the Town of Tonawanda with her husband, Colin, and their four children.