Melissa Smith is Director, Outreach and Branding Initiatives at NextEnergy. Smith brings with her over 20 years of experience in marketing, public relations, graphic design, events and sales. The majority of her career was spent as a senior marketing specialist with the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), leading exhibit-sales and audience marketing efforts for many large-scale manufacturing events across the United States and Canada. For two years, Smith served as Vice President of Marketing and Sales for the Droste Group, an international executive coaching and consulting firm based in Michigan. Areas of expertise include development of marketing strategy and tactics, management of large budgets & external vendors, creative development, copywriting, art direction, list strategy and development; strategy and deployment of direct mail, electronic marketing and social media. Smith holds a B.S. in English Literature & Journalism from Eastern Michigan University.
