MELISSA A. FOTI, President-Elect, is an associate at Kenney Shelton Liptak Nowak LLP, where she is responsible for insurance defense litigation including personal injury, motor vehicle negligence, premises liability, subrogation and labor law issues.

Foti attended Hilbert College in 1991 in pursuance of criminal justice studies. She went on to attend the State University at Buffalo where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Legal Studies in May 1996. After obtaining her Bachelor's degree, she then enrolled in law school at The John Marshall Law School in Chicago, Illinois. While at John Marshall, Foti studied abroad in Parma and Rome, Italy. She subsequently transferred back to the Western New York area and obtained her Juris Doctor from the State University of New York at Buffalo in May 2003.

Foti is admitted to practice in the state of New York. She is a member of the Erie County and Women's Bar Associations. Over the last five years, Foti has served as Local Director, State Director and has Co-Chaired the Nominations Committee and Judiciary Committee for the Western New York Chapter of WBASNY. She has served as Chair for The Young Lawyers Committee of the Erie County Bar Association and has sat on the Judiciary Committee of the Erie County Bar Association. Foti has also volunteered for the Volunteer Lawyers Project and has served as an attorney advisor for the High School Mock Trial Tournament.