Stephanie M. Kelley is ECCO's fifth executive director in the organization's 33-year history. She assumed this role in March of 2017 after volunteering at ECCO in a multitude of roles including service on the Board of Directors. Like so many others who are involved at ECCO, Stephanie took a tour of the facility and wanted to find a way to get involved.
She holds a Masters of Education and a Bachelor of Science degree both from Kutztown University in Kutztown, PA. Over the span of twenty plus years, she worked at several liberal arts colleges in the northeast before moving to South Carolina where she was first employed at Columbia College in Columbia, SC serving as the Dean of Students for six years.
Organizational leadership, relationship building, and community service have been hallmarks of Stephanie’s career in the non-profit sector. She says the most satisfying part of her role at ECCO is working with the organization’s stakeholders – clients, volunteers, staff, donors and community partners – to ensure ECCO continues to be an anchor in the community. Highlights of the organization’s past seven years include the successful completion of a $5M capital campaign to expand ECCO’s reach, a Chick-fil-a True Inspiration Award for ECCO’s work to fight hunger in our community, breaking ground in April 2024 on the renovation project of ECCO’s 22-year old facility, and the bringing together of an energized team, full of compassionate and collaborative non-profit professionals who strive for excellence in their daily work.
In her desire to continue learning and growing as a leader, Stephanie completed the Together SC Carolina Leadership Seminar as a part of the Fall 2017 cohort; is a graduate of the Fall 2019 Lowcountry class of The Riley Institute at Furman’s Diversity Leaders Initiative (DLI); and meets with her t(ED) Talks group comprised of local non-profit leaders who challenge and support one another in their efforts to lead effectively. In May 2023, Trident United Way’s Women United honored Stephanie with their Non-Profit Leader of the Year Award. She was also named a “Woman of Influence for 2023” by the Charleston Regional Business Journal.
Stephanie and her husband, Hoyt, live East of the Cooper and enjoy traveling, baseball, and spending time on the water. Stephanie is a member of Christ Our King Catholic Church where she first learned about ECCO through the organization's founder, Monsignor James A. Carter. Stephanie considers it an honor to be involved in ECCO’s continued impact in the Lowcountry providing help and hope to our neighbors navigating life’s challenges and advocating for a community where all people can find a path to opportunity.