Melodee Wagen, MCR, President
Melodee Wagen has over twenty-five years of unique experience in consulting, strategy,
facilities management, project management, and design that, when coupled with her
general management experience, brings a cohesive presence to any real estate or workplace
project. Numerous strategic planning and needs assessment projects for a variety
of clients provide her with the depth of experience to produce analyses and recommendations
that support business objectives, contain costs, and improve the workplace. Recent
engagements have also incorporated mobility and flexibility program development and
implementation, as well as Alternative Workspace methodology. As an experienced facilitator
and group leader, Melodee develops and implements change management projects for
corporate, educational, and governmental organizations. In addition, Melodee has
created and directed benchmarking, research, and occupancy evaluations. Clients
include accounting, consulting, insurance, financial, technology, government, education,
and non-profit organizations.
Prior to the founding of Workspace Strategies, Inc., Melodee was the Senior Practice
Leader for Consulting Practices at GHK, Griswold, Heckel, and Kelly Associates, Inc.
While at GHK, Melodee led national projects in strategic planning, change management,
and evaluations and analysis.
Before joining GHK Melodee was the Senior Planning Analyst at Harvard University.
In this position she produced and implemented short- and long-range strategic plans
for building resources of Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, which includes
Harvard College and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. While at Harvard, Melodee
developed the program goals and migration plans for the $25 million, multi-use renovation
of Memorial Hall and Sanders Theatre by consulting broadly with university constituents
and the public to define concerns, possibilities, and needs, and to gain consensus
and project support. She also worked with a client base of eighteen departments and
programs for the multi-building $30 million renovation to create the Humanities Complex;
defining project goals, analyzing space needs, developing equitable criteria for
space assignment and allocation, and determining broad and specific space layouts.
Melodee holds the Master of Corporate Real Estate certificate from CoreNet Global;
a business degree from Radcliffe College; and Bachelors and Masters degrees from
Western Michigan University. She received the 2016 Exemplary End User Award from
the Boston Chapter of IFMA. She is a frequent speaker at national and local industry
events, is Past-President of the IFMA Corporate Facilities Council Board, and is
an active member of the IFMA Research Committee. Melodee also is an adjunct faculty
member at Wentworth University. Melodee participated in the IFMA Workplace Summits
at Cornell in 2012 and in London in 2014. She contributed to the Specialty Services
chapter (written by Cheryl Duvall, FIIDA) of Interior Design: Handbook for Professionals,
and to Carol Lasch’s POE Survey and Report (RISD). Publications and speaking engagements
include the IFMA World Workplace Proceedings 2000, 2004, and 2008, 2013, 2016; IFMA
Facilities Fusion Proceedings 2012, 2014, 2016; the Canadian Facilities Management
& Design Journal; and IFMA’s Facilities Management Journal.
Clients include John Hancock Financial Services/Manulife, Harvard University, Greater
Boston Food Bank, Unum, HPHC, Citizens Bank, CSC Consulting, Shanahan Sound and Electronics,
The Fraternal Order of Police, Atlas Travel, Openera Technologies, Ernst & Young,
IDX, VeriSign, Howard County Government, Wesleyan University, Baxter Healthcare,
Brown & Company, and Sun Microsystems.
