In 2010, Melissa joined Dome and over the last decade she has played a significant role in helping to shape the company Dome is today.
Melissa’s journey in the industry began at Milwaukee School of Engineering. Upon graduation, Melissa spent 4 years just south of Milwaukee in Chicago working for a high-profile consulting firm, before she traded in the Windy City for sunny San Diego. She spent the next 9 years working, first as a structural engineer on large homes, and then moved on to work at her first general contractor as a project engineer and then project manager.
In 2010, Melissa made the move to San Francisco and joined Dome Construction. As a Project Manager with experience in building occupied, complex OSHPD facilities, Melissa added a great depth of knowledge to the Dome Healthcare Group.
Through the years Melissa has built long-standing relationships with Stanford Health Care, Dignity Health, Sonoma Valley Hospital, and many others. In 2015 she was promoted to Associate Director where she continued to grow her team.
As a lesbian, in a male-dominated industry, Melissa has broken barriers, overcome obstacles, and is determined to help clear a path for women in the industry. In recent years, Melissa established the Women’s Leadership Group at Dome Construction. Additionally, Melissa was instrumental in starting the Bay Area chapter of WiOPS, (Women in Construction Operations) an organization that is committed to providing networking, mentoring, and education for women working in construction.
As a new Director, along with continuing to build relationships in the Healthcare arena, Melissa will be leading Diversity and Inclusion efforts within Dome Construction.
Today, Melissa lives in San Francisco with her wife, Kristen, and their French Bulldog, Mia.
We interviewed Melissa to learn more about who she is and to get a better understanding of what she’s looking forward to in her new Role.
What do you like most about the company and your job?
What I have always loved most about Dome is that we put people and building relationships internally and externally before anything else. We pride ourselves in long term relationships with Owners, Designers, and Trade Partners.
What are you looking forward to most about your promotion?
What I am most looking forward to is having a seat at the table to continue to help drive cultural change when it comes to Diversity and Inclusion at Dome and within the construction industry. As a lesbian female in the construction, I have experienced a lot of bias and microaggressions in my 15 years in the industry, I would like to change that for the women and minorities coming behind me.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Focus on figuring out who you are and what your core values are. Once you start making decisions based on that, life is easier to navigate.
What do you like most about construction?
The majority of my construction projects are in the healthcare industry. I really enjoy the level of expertise that goes into running these sometimes very complex, multi-phased, occupied facilities, multiple pieces of equipment, type projects.
What is the best part of your job?
My team is definitely the best part of my job. They are fun, dedicated, enthusiastic, and have a desire to continuously learn and grow!
Tell us about a project or accomplishment that you consider to be the most significant in your career.
I am really proud of the work we have done at Dome over the past few years in regards to the advancement of women. We were able to share our story recently at LCI Congress and at the LCI Design Forum. Additionally, I’m really proud of serving on the board and helping launch WIOPS NorCal (Women In Construction Operations) in January 2018. I am now the board president and am working on getting our NorCal membership to over 500 women.
What do you do when you aren’t working?
Absolutely love to travel, preferably somewhere I can go scuba diving.
Last question, which is your favorite quote?
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” ― Maya Angelou