LIFT Expands Team in Detroit, Hires Addie Stone-Richards as Director of Membership Engagement

Stone-Richards will partner with institute members to support their engagement in the LIFT ecosystem and work to drive American Manufacturing Into the Future

 DETROIT – LIFT, the Detroit-based Department of Defense-supported national manufacturing innovation institute, announced today that it has expanded its Detroit team by hiring Addie Stone-Richards as the institute’s Director of Member Engagement.

In this role, Stone-Richards will work with LIFT members to help them utilize the institute’s ecosystem to further develop, optimize and commercialize their innovations. She will also ensure that each LIFT industry member maximizes their membership benefits by keeping members closely connected to LIFT’s in-house experts and facilitating the activation of LIFT’s core offerings: trusted advisorship, convening, connecting, technology acceleration, technology showcasing, and training and workforce development.

“Addie brings to LIFT tremendous experience in nonprofit member engagement, particularly in the manufacturing sector,” said Kevin Kerrigan, vice president of business development, LIFT. “Addie has been involved with our institute over the years, and we are thrilled to have her here now as part of our full-time team.”

Stone-Richards brings 20 years of experience in design and innovation sectors to LIFT having previously served as Business Development Manager at Sundberg-Ferrar, an industrial Design firm specializing in industrial design, design research, engineering and fabrication of high-end prototypes. She also previously served as Senior Accounts Manager at the Detroit location of TechShop, a national makerspace where she focused on attracting new members, developing STEAM education partnerships and supporting more than 500 automotive engineers in maximizing membership benefits to advance prototypes and patent innovation.

Stone-Richards holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a Bachelor of Architecture degree from The Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, and was a Fulbright Scholar in Madrid, Spain.