Stephen Deason

Stephen Deason is an applied economist, entrepreneur, operating executive, and author. He is founder and CEO of OPA Home Care and Skilled Nursing, OPA Staffing, and OPA People. He has more than 31 years of experience building teams and companies across healthcare, technology, and social enterprise.

Stephen directly owns OPA Home Care and OPA Skilled Nursing. The OPA RASA Group's companies and affiliates include OPA Staffing and OPA People. OPA People is becoming the trade name for OPA Staffing LLC. The OPA RASA Foundation is a separate nonprofit organization.

The OPA RASA Foundation "has worked to place hundreds of people from disadvantaged backgrounds into a variety of careers."

Stephen previously served as CEO of GRYYT, a marketing technology firm, and held C-level roles at three other technology companies. He currently serves on four nonprofit boards and on the advisory boards of two startup technology and telecommunications firms.

Stephen holds an MBA and an MSc in Accounting from Emory University and a BSc in Mathematics from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is ABD in the PhD program in Business at Emory University's Laney Graduate School; the PhD has not been awarded. He was named a Sheth Fellow at Emory, an award made to doctoral students on passing their comprehensive examinations. His doctoral work concentrated on accounting, accounting data, and behavioral economics. He pursued graduate studies and completed the CityLabs program at Johns Hopkins University as a Dean's Scholar.

His article, "The Role of Accounting in Ponzi Schemes," was published in Accounting Horizons in 2021. The article is peer-reviewed archival accounting research and received coverage in Forbes. His professional writing has appeared in CPA Practice Advisor.

Stephen is in long-term recovery and founded OPA during that period. His books include The Weakest Link and The Invisible Architecture in The Operational Reliability Series, The Family Integrator's Handbook, The Sitting Room Series, and the practical recovery books of The Mile Marker Library.