Name: Melissa Richards

Title: Director of Communications

Company: Martin/Alexiou/Bryson P.C.

Years in the A/E/C industry: 8

City you are originally from: Metuchen, NJ

What did you do before you joined the A/E/C industry? I moved to Raleigh in 2003 from San Francisco. While in California, I worked in the consumer marketing department for Macworld magazine.

What organizations are you involved with professionally and/or personally? SMPS

How do you like to spend your free time (when you have it)? I have a five-year old daughter so any free time I have I like to spend it with her and my husband. I also enjoy running, reading, and spending time outside.

What is the last book you read or movie you saw, and what did you think of it? The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. It’s a very exciting book that’s hard to put down.

Fun Fact (something only your family knows…or hidden talents): On my husband’s 30^th birthday we tandem sky dived at 15,000 feet!

Kellie Ford has been in the AEC industry for 14 years and is currently working in Marketing and Business Development for S&ME in Raleigh. Originally from Syracuse, New York Kellie entered the AEC industry immediately upon graduation from college. She has served as Secretary on the Board of SMPS Research Triangle, worked on the Programs Committee and is currently serving on the Membership Committee. In addition to her work with SMPS Research Triangle, Kellie is involved with IMFA, NCHEA, ISPE, WIA, ACEC, and the Brooks Elementary School PTA.

When Kellie gets free time she enjoys spending it with her husband and two children (ages 8 and 5), going to concerts, traveling, visiting the beach, baking, riding bikes, reading, and running. Kellie ran her first Half Marathon last year. Go Kellie!

Something people may not know about Kellie is that she worked at a Wegmans grocery store in the bakery as a cake decorator, customer service provider, and baker for 7 years during high school and college. There she learned to decorate all kinds of cakes and desserts and became a “Certified Bagel Baker!” She still loves decorating cakes to this day for her children and friends.

Kellie also has family in Alaska.and her Grandmother’s husband and his father and brothers’ were settlers of a town called Palmer, Alaska in the early 1960′s.

Thank you, Kellie, for all that you do for SMPS Research Triangle!