Stephen Alessi is currently the Associate Director for the NERCRD (Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development). Before joining the NERCRD, he served for seven years as a Client Relationship Manager for Penn State Extension, overseeing six counties in Northeastern PA. In this role, he worked with Extension stakeholders to raise awareness of the breadth of Extension programs and resources available, to identify local issues and program needs, and to assist program teams in bringing the full resources of Extension to address challenges that each county faced. He also serves as an adjunct instructor in marketing and entrepreneurship at Wilkes University and Keystone College. Previously, he was with the Sherwin-Williams Company for 11 years, where he worked in sales and marketing. He received his undergrad degree in business administration from Geneva College, and his MBA from Wilkes University.