The Savannah Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, a professional orchestra presenting a full range of concerts from classics to pops each season, announced today that Melissa Emery, who is currently serving as chairman of the board, will also function as the cultural organization’s interim director. A search is underway for a permanent director.

Emery helped to found the Savannah Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus as well as the Savannah Friends of Music, where she served as chairman for four years. She has been a board member of Greenbriar Children’s Center and is a past president of the Kiwanis Club of Skidaway Island.   

Prior to her retirement, Emery and her husband, Jim, formed Viewfinder Research, conducting focus groups and then moving into marketing consulting for a wide variety of clients, including Coca-Cola, General Foods, L’Oreal, Pepperidge Farm, Taylor Made Golf and Johnson & Johnson, among others. 

A native of Chicago, she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business economics from Purdue University and an M.B.A. in marketing and finance from Northwestern University. As an alumna of the Krannert School of Business at Purdue, she served on the Dean’s Advisory Board there for six years, and was named Alumna of the Year in 2000.