Ownership and entrepreneurial judgment
Business economics, decisions under uncertainty, and the responsibilities owners carry when company decisions affect other people.
Speaking
Ownership, responsibility, and the systems people carry.
Stephen Deason is an applied economist, entrepreneur, operating executive, and author. His speaking and advisory subjects draw on company ownership, accounting research, healthcare coordination, and recovery.
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Topics
Speaking and advisory subjects
Organizational responsibility
How responsibility lands on families and operators when an organization’s defined role ends before the underlying problem is resolved.
The family integrator and the handoff
What family members carry when appointments, documents, medications, and provider conversations must stay connected.
The first hard hours
What makes a recovery plan usable when a hard day arrives before a call, appointment, or long-term plan can help.
Selected appearances
Public conversations
Stephen has delivered keynotes on machine learning, AI, and the changing job landscape, as well as a Shatterproof keynote. He has appeared on iHeart Radio and joins podcast conversations on leadership, entrepreneurship, and recovery.
He also served on Cox Enterprises’ EMPOWER panel on the workforce impact of substance use, anxiety, stress, and depression.
What colleagues and clients say
"In under 6 months, he taught me everything I needed to know to be impactful as a manager and supported me in that learning journey. He is a crisp, clear communicator and also incredibly humble."
"He has also taught me to have a purpose in work life and respect the men and women you work with. I would follow Stephen anywhere he chooses to lead me."
"His ability to teach accounting principles to 'non-finance' people has been a game changer…"
"He loves to teach and frequently jumps up to my whiteboard to go over a concept with me."
"…he helped in training, coaching, and supporting some of the less tenured folks. This knowledge share was crucial to quickly getting the team up to proficiency."
"No matter how complex the questions or ideas, he manages to communicate the answers and concepts clearly and efficiently."
"…has a great ability to translate technology into business benefits. He is always viewed by his customers as a trusted advisor…"
"…understand complex, technical products… and present them to non-technical people in terms of their business value rather than their features…"
"A key strength he brings to any job is the ability to communicate complex information in an easily understandable form, both internally and externally."
"Customers always respond well to Stephen's communications skills…"
Watch a talk
InterCon USA 2019, Las Vegas, "ML Will Redesign, Not Replace, Jobs," June 2019, 36 minutes
Media kit
Stephen Deason
Short bio
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. His writing draws on ownership, business economics, healthcare, recovery, and family life. Alder Creek Editions publishes his books.
Long bio
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. 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.
Stephen accepts a limited number of speaking engagements, media interviews, podcast appearances, panel invitations, and appropriate advisory engagements.
Discuss an invitation →Inquiries
Speaking, media, and advisory inquiries
For a speaking engagement, media interview, podcast appearance, or appropriate advisory engagement, include the organization, topic, audience, timing, and what you would like Stephen to contribute.
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