"Contract Associates of New Mexico"

"We are as much about people as we are about furniture."

Maria Griego-Raby, President + Co-Founder.

Maria established Contract Associates, a family-owned business, with brother, Mark, over 20 years ago. Beginning with just 4 employees, the business has grown to 30 Team Members. Maria's success comes from her ability to integrate her many creative talents with sound knowledge and experience. In addition, as an active company Team Leader, her "hands-on" commitment to deliver the highest standard in products and customer service, keeps her ahead of the curve and continually at the top of her industry.

Maria earned a Masters Degree in Business Administration and a Bachelor's in Business Administration from the University of New Mexico. Her outstanding professional reputation in the commercial and office furniture industry has been recognized over the years by the media and organizations such as: Top 500 List of The Largest U.S Hispanic Owned Companies, Hispanic Business Magazine, for 7 consecutive years (2002-09); Minority Business Development Association (MBDA), Regional Director Award, 2005; and Minority Enterprise Development, Regional Minority Supplier/Distributor of the Year, 2002, to name a few.

As passionate about the community as she is about her business, Ms. Griego-Raby contributes her time and talents to numerous boards and regional non-profit organizations.

Victoria Peña, Vice-President

Victoria is an essential player on both sides of the Contract Associates and client teams. Her impressive gamut of responsibilities as Team Leader and supervisor for Northern New Mexico include a wide range of talent and expertise, such as project strategy, procurement, execution, and product and customer support. Within some of these specialized project categories, Ms. Pena also oversees the planning, design and installation of the specified office systems, furniture and free-standing accessories and, in many cases, works at multi-project sites simultaneously. While managing each project with her team in detail, Victoria also serves as a liaison and communicator that is the necessary bridge between all the human parts of a project. This includes managing corporate administrators and personnel on the client side, as well personnel on the contractual service provider side.

Ms. Pena is a designated Safety Officer for the U.S. Department of Energy. Some past and present projects she has supervised include Los Alamos National Laboratories, The Santa Fe Indian School, Highlands University (Las Vegas, NM), Attorney General Building (Santa Fe) and The West Capital Project (Santa Fe).

Dana Cox, Design Director

As Design Director, Dana oversees all the design projects at Contract Associates and manages a team of 3 other designers and several interns. Her Team Leadership role includes project and client management in her area of expertise, supervision and overall quality control and assurance, and skilled execution and/or design direction of furniture layout and space planning, including finish + product specifications. Dana visits the actual project site regularly to meet with the Project + Installation Managers where they can review all the aspects of the design she is supervising. This type of on-site activity is essential to keep the project moving along smoothly, assure that the product specifications and design accurately interface with the building or space, and to troubleshoot any challenges, if any, before they become issues. This type of management keeps the project on time, on budget and at the level of quality Contract Associates is known to deliver to their clients.

Ms. Cox has been a Team Member at Contract Associates for 5 years. She has been involved in various projects such as new construction, renovations and re-locations, and has designed Haworth Systems Furniture, executive offices, scientific laboratories, research and development facilities, and educational environments such as classrooms and auditoriums. She has a Bachelor's Degree in Interior Design and a minor in Architecture from Texas Tech University.