Our History

Melanie Pickard and Keith Francis formed Arete Educational and Conference Service in 2015. “We saw two needs in the Sonoma County area,” they said. “First, Sonoma needed a company that combined all the tutoring, counseling, and test preparation services that high school and college students would want.” Realizing that, they decided to expand to tutoring business that Melanie had been doing for eight years.

“Second, we recognized that there were no companies in Sonoma County who provided a full range of event management services.” For more than five years they had both planned conferences for an academic association, the American Society of Church History, and they wanted to do this on a larger scale. “We both really enjoy organizing the ASCH’s meetings and wanted to use the skills we have to plan events for local people and businesses.” As Arete Educational and Conferences Services grows, the company aims to offer its services to people and business beyond Sonoma County.