When the opportunity arose to join Melwood nearly six years ago, Brice Alexander didn’t hesitate. For him, it wasn’t just another career move—it was a chance to align his professional expertise with something deeply personal.
Brice’s wife is a special education teacher who works with profoundly disabled students, and his daughter also has a disability. Watching his wife’s dedication sparked a realization: he could use his own skills to help create opportunities for those same students when they were ready to enter the workforce.
“That’s what drew me to Melwood,” Brice explains. “A lot of those kids later in life, when they are first joining the workforce, we provide a place for them to take those first steps. They can build a career here or move on once they’ve developed their skills. Either way, we’re helping to open doors.”
Brice has been serving as Senior Vice President of Facility Management Services (FMS) where he has overseen more than 60 contracts across the region, directing a team of four directors and three project managers who support nearly 1,000 employees. More than 77% of Melwood’s direct labor force are people with severe disabilities—a fact that Brice sees not as a limitation, but as a point of pride.
This week, after an exhaustive search that included external and internal candidates, he was promoted to Executive Director of Melwood Enterprises.
Raised in the Industry
Raised in a family that has been in the custodial business since the 1970s, Brice grew up immersed in the industry. His career has taken him through small businesses, Fortune 500 corporations, and now the nonprofit world. That journey gives him a rare perspective. “Cleaning a commercial office building is different than cleaning a factory that makes paint,” he says. “Having worked in so many different environments, I understand where customers are coming from—and I also understand how employees work in each setting.”
What Brice values most, though, is the opportunity to challenge perceptions. “We want to make sure people don’t get pigeonholed,” he says. “Our team members with disabilities are professionals. They’re skilled, trained, and produce the same quality of work as anyone else.”
For Brice, Melwood is more than a job. It’s a mission—an extension of his family’s lifelong commitment to creating opportunity, dignity, and meaningful work for people of all abilities and Melwood is eager to see him lead our social enterprise arm now and into the future.
