Remembering Melissa Morrissey
By Melissa Morris, publisher
Every once in a while during the span of our careers, we encounter a person that approaches their job and their industry and their peers and their partners with such zeal and enthusiasm and conviction, that you go away from the interaction feeling that if you could approach your own career with half the energy of the person you just interacted with, you’d be twice as good at your own job. You go away from the conversation feeling like a better person having interacted with that individual. For me, Melissa Morrissey was that person.
Melissa passed away suddenly on September 6, 2013.
My first conversation with Melissa was in April of 2013. I reached out to her based on feedback I had received from some of our vendor partners on what a great organization RAMP was and the great conference they had put together. Not even five minutes into that first call I realized what a great energy for, and obvious commitment to, the retail industry Melissa possessed.
She and her team were building their business from the ground up and their success was obviously being created from the partnerships Melissa was securing. She had created a board of directors for RAMP that included a who's who of retail and hospitality executives. Many of these executives agreed to interviews with ISR, without hesitation, just based on Melissa's request. Every email I received introducing us to one of the RAMP board members was full of praise and excitement for the individual we were to interview. Melissa's enthusiasm came through regardless of what medium we were communicating in - a testament to how much each individual she interacted with meant to her personally.
The entire staff here at ISR was, and still is, very excited about this new partnership we are building. When discussing the show with vendors or retailers that weren't familiar with RAMP, I kept coming back to the same comment - I had never received such positive and exciting feedback about a conference or organization from both the retail attendees and the vendor sponsors. It was amazing.
Melissa's enthusiasm for the retail industry was contagious. In an email exchange between her and I, Melissa said "I look forward to this being a mighty partnership and to changing and improving the state of U.S. retail together." That, I believe, was her sole mission.
Although, I am deeply saddened by the loss of such an amazing retail industry leader, we here at ISR look forward to continuing to build on our partnership with the RAMP organization and to helping that organization continue Melissa's life's work. For more information on the RAMP Advanced Commerce & Mobile Retail Services Summit, October 28-30, 2013 in Chicago, please visit www.retailramp.com.