NCIDQ's President, Kimberly Marks,  has been principal and owner of The Marks Design Group, Inc., a commercial interior design firm providing commercial interiors, since 1985. As a stable force in San Antonio through both good and bad economies, her firm has designed major commercial interiors projects in the diversified areas of corporate, healthcare, education, government, commercial real estate, retail, hospitality, banking and law.

Marks is a nationally recognized speaker, having participated in panel discussions and speaking engagements across the United States, including ASID National Conventions and Regional NeoCon Trade Conferences and events at Baylor University, St. Mary's University and the University of the Incarnate Word. She has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Texas, San Antonio, where she continues to mentor students. She has developed expertise in building codes through her volunteer involvement in the development of the International Building Codes. This effort led her to deliver building code workshops that emphasize codes specific to the interior designer’s role in the design team. She is also a past president of her state coalition, the Texas Association for Interior Design.

Marks has a passion for advancing the profession through improving the education of its constituents. She is the author of the NCIDQ continuing education monograph, Structures in Interior Design, and previously served on the NCIDQ Board of Directors from 2006 through 2007. Prior to her service on the Board, she volunteered as a member and chair of the Model Language Task Force for a number of years and on the MEPS (Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing and Structural) exam committee for Alabama’s Sealed-Level Registration.

Marks attended Florida State University, where she received a bachelor’s degree in interior design. She is a Registered Interior Designer in the State of Texas.

Patty Blaser is a full professor at Brookdale Community College in Lincroft, New Jersey. She founded the Interior Design program at the college. From 1985 to 1998, she also ran her own business, Blaser Interior Design Group, Inc., focusing on commercial space planning and interior design.

For the past three years, Blaser has served on NCIDQ committees and task forces focused on establishing educational standards. In 2005, she served on the Interior Design-Related Coursework Task Force; in 2006 she served on the Education Committee; in 2007 she was a member of the Educational Equivalency Task Force. She is a member of the New Jersey Board of Architects Interior Design Examination and Evaluation Committee and was instrumental in getting legislation passed in New Jersey through her involvement in the New Jersey Coalition for Interior Design Legislation, serving as President in 2003-2004.

Blaser attended Brookdale Community College before receiving a bachelor’s degree in interior design & art historyn from Kean University, where she later received a master’s degree in studio art education.

Deborah Steinmetz is the founder and principal of Steinmetz and Associates, with offices in both New Orleans and Atlanta. She is licensed as an interior designer in Louisiana and Georgia. Over the past 30 years, Debbie has concentrated her business on tenant service needs of ongoing lease management. Her corporate projects have received design awards and national publication.

Steinmetz has served two two-year terms on the NCIDQ Board of Directors as well as on the International Board of IIDA and ASID. She is also a fellow of ASID and IIDA. She has been active in ASID, IIDA and FIDER (now known as CIDA) over the years in both local and national capacities. In 2006, she served on NCIDQ’s Continuing Education Committee and was the liaison to that committee in 2007.

Steinmetz’s long-term support of licensing efforts has led to her active participation in legislative development both in Louisiana and nationally. She has been actively involved with Louisiana legislation since the law’s enactment in 1983. She currently serves as Chairman of the Louisiana State Board of Examiners of Interior Designers and served as the Board’s delegate to NCIDQ for many years.

She received a bachelor’s degree in interior design from Louisiana State University. 

Kim Ciesynski is the owner and principal designer of Spaces Design & Planning in Reno, Nevada. The full-service design firm focuses on hospitality, healthcare and residential projects in the western United States.  Kim has more than 19 years of design experience and is a Registered Interior Designer in Nevada.

Kim is an NCIDQ ambassador, someone who gives the Your Journey to Professionalism presentation. She has served as a volunteer for NCIDQ as a member and Chair of the Policies and Procedures Committee, as a member of the Continuing Education Task Force and as a member of the IDEP Polices Task Force. She previously served on the Nevada State Board of Architecture, Interior Design and Residential Design’s Continuing Education Committee. She has been active in her local chapter of ASID and is very involved in her community through design projects and other volunteer activities.

She received her BS in interior design from the University of Nevada Reno in 1991 and established her own design firm in 1996.

Mary Jane Grigsby is the founder of Adesso Design, Inc., a licensed interior design firm in Asheville, NC and Port Saint Lucie, FL. The firm provides commercial and residential interior design services throughout North Carolina and Florida. She has been a professional interior designer since 1975. 

She received her Bachelor’s Degree in biology/pre-med from Duke University, followed by her Masters Degree in interior design at the University of North Carolina – Greensboro. She has been practicing for more than 3r years, both locally and abroad, which has led her to be acknowledged as one of the most sought after designers in the region. Her local, state and national awards, along with magazine cover stories, attest to her ability to provide exceptional design solutions for varied projects and for outstanding contributions to the interior design profession and her community. In 2002, Mary Jane was appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush and then reappointed by Gov. Charlie Christ to serve on the Florida State Board of Architecture and Interior Design, which regulates the two professions. 

Mary Jane served as Chair of the Board of Architecture and Interior Design in 2007. She has served as chair of NCIDQ’s Education Task Force and Model Language Task Force. In 2004-2005 she served as Chair of ASID’s College of Fellows and has served on numerous ASID committees, both locally and nationally.

John Klai is the President and a founding partner of Klai Juba Architects, Ltd., located in Las Vegas. Klai and Klai Juba Architects have had the opportunity to work hand-in-hand with interior designers on highly visible properties up and down the Las Vegas strip. He has worked in the design, planning and management capacity for the following projects: the Four Seasons Hotel at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, Indiana Live!, MGM Grand Expansion and Remodel and the Hard Rock Hotels and Casinos at Hollywood and Tampa, Fl. 

Klai received a bachelor of architecture degree from North Dakota State University and is an NCARB and NCIDQ Certificate holder. He has spent nearly 10 years on the Nevada State Board of Architecture, Interior Design and Residential Design. Currently he is serving on two committees for the Nevada Board, which are responsible for the rewrite of their Supplemental Exam for Registered Interior Designers (administered to candidates who passed NCIDQ prior to examination in 2000) and for evaluating candidates who have interior design degrees from programs lacking CIDA accreditation. He has also volunteered for NCIDQ as a member of the Route for Architecturally Educated Interior Designers Task Force and as a member of the Practice Analysis Task Force.

Laurie McRae is the founder of Laurie McRae Interiors, Inc., an interior design firm that employs two design professionals in Augusta, GA and has a satellite office at the Aiken Design Center in Aiken, SC. The firm has provided commercial and residential interior design services throughout Georgia since 1989.

In 2004, she was appointed to the state licensing board for Architects and Interior Designers by Gov. Sonny Perdue and has served on a subcommittee of the Georgia legislature that will strengthen and protect the current law defining interior design practice. She has also served as a member on NCIDQ’s Annual Council of Delegates Meeting Agenda Task Force and as a member on the Policies and Procedures Committee. She attended the NCIDQ Annual Council of Delegates Meetings in 2005, 2006 and 2007 as the alternate delegate from Georgia. McRae received a degree in interior design from the University of Georgia. 

Cynthia Allen has been President of SeaCrest Consulting Company since June 2006. She is responsible for creating and implementing marketing/communication strategies for certifying agencies, managing Web site content development, providing counseling to clients in the areas of association, project and marketing management and writing and editing articles for trade publications including Forum and Associations Now. She also freelances as a journalist and marketing consultant. She has had articles published in the Washingtonian magazine, New York Family and the Villager. 

Prior to her current position, she worked for SmithBucklin Corporation, an association management company. Her clients included the National Organization for Competency Assurance and the American Academy of Nanomedicine. She received her B.A. in communication studies from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, VA and her M.A. in journalism from New York University. She is currently a member of the American Society of Association Executives and was a member of the Virginia Society of Association Executives in 2008.