Stacey Ecelbarger – Orlando Business Journal’s 2020 Women Who Mean Business Honoree
Stacey Ecelbarger has forged a successful career in education services, but she’s also provided unique career opportunities for more than 200 veterans and military spouses.
Ecelbarger is the co-founder and president of Lake Mary-based Freedom Learning Group LLC. The company provides educational content and services for publishers, universities and colleges, and certifying agencies and associations. Freedom Learning focuses on hiring U.S. military spouses and veterans as subject matter experts. The instructional material, digital textbooks, test-prep content and other educational materials created by Freedom Learning are provided to clients that include LinkedIn Learning, Pearson and McGraw Hill Education.
In the past year, Ecelbarger’s company has notched a number of achievements, including:
- Hiring more than 250 military spouses and veterans
- Growing its annual revenue from $600,000 in 2017 to $2.5 million in 2019
- Securing partnerships with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Department of Defense and Instructure.
Freedom Learning Group makes a distinct impact on the people it hires. By hiring military spouses as subject matter experts, Ecelbarger’s company has enabled professionals in a number of industries to continue their careers as they leave jobs to follow spouses serving in the armed forces to deployments around the world.
Ecelbarger secured approval from the DoD for Freedom Learning Group to join the defense department’s military spouse employment program. The company was inducted alongside corporate giants like Google, LinkedIn, and Johnson & Johnson in October 2019.
Ecelbarger is one of OBJ’s 2020 Women Who Mean Business honorees. She will be honored Feb. 24 at OBJ’s Women Who Mean Business: Day of Empowerment at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress.