Stacey Epperson is a native of rural Kentucky and has worked in affordable housing throughout her career. In 2011, she founded Next Step Network and is committed to Manufactured Housing Done Rightâ – which prepares and supports homebuyers to buy ENERGY STAR homes with fair loans. Her manufactured housing work began in Appalachia as a response to families living in outdated mobile homes, and for a decade she served as the President & CEO of Frontier Housing – a nonprofit housing organization based in eastern Kentucky.
In 2012 Stacey was elected an Ashoka Fellow for her innovative approach to creating the only independent distribution channel for affordable manufactured housing. She was recognized as one of Prosperity Now’s Innovators-in-Residence and has completed the Achieving Excellence in Community Development Program at Harvard’s JFK School of Government.
Stacey holds a Masters of Public Administration from Western Kentucky University, and attended the University of Kentucky Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce. She also serves as an appointed adviser to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Manufactured Housing Consensus Committee, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati and the Aspen Institute Expanding Prosperity Impact Collaborative (EPIC).